Tenno Reborn
by mrgamerguy47
Summary: An ancient artifact is unearthed on a previously unexplored by a Council excavation team. It seems old, and it might be older than the Protheans but no one has a clue what it is. And when they unlock its hidden secrets it will begin a chain of events that will lead a troubled galaxy to a new age or grind it to cosmic dust. M just in case. (ch. 1 revised)
1. Disembark

**Tenno Reborn**

**Hey guys and girls out there I'm uploading my first ever fan fiction. I've wanted to do this for like a year but never tried till now. So go easy on me with the reviews (First time be gentle****). I absolutely LOVE Mass Effect series and I'm going nuts for this new Warframe game so my big beautiful brain decided they would go well together so this is going to be a Mass Effect/Warframe cross over. I might rate this story T or maybe M for later chapters, don't know yet also probably going to be spoilers for Mass Effect. I own nothing from Mass Effect or Warframe except a few OCs I am putting in this story along the way.**

**I am posting this revised Ch. 1 in response to a few reviews I have gotten on my first attempt at Ch. 1. The biggest differences are: Saren is replaced with Nihlus, Liara is protégée to an OC character I am putting in charge of the mission, Garrus is with the Citadel Fleet instead of C-Sec, and Tali is out of the story for now.**

**Summary: An ancient artifact is unearthed on a previously unexplored by a Council excavation team. It seems old, and it might be older than the Protheans but no one has a clue what it is. And when they unlock its hidden secrets it will begin a chain of events that will lead a troubled galaxy to a new age or grind it to cosmic dust.**

…

**Chapter 1: Disembark**

The ship drifted silently through the black emptiness on a new day. Well "day" has no meaning in space but for the ship's crew it was a new day and it marked their 764th galactic standard day in their voyage to map the unexplored edges of the galaxy. The ship was an asari scout ship named the ESV Reverence and it housed a multi species crew of over 500 scientist, navigators, engineers, security officers, and every other specialist you need to fly a ship through deep space for a three year mapping mission. The council had banned activating uncharted relays ever since the Rachni Wars but they had authorized the mission in the hopes of discovering new relays, new worlds for colonization and bringing new economies to Council Space. The acting commander was an asari with dark blue skin and just as blue eyes named Giana T'Naris who stood on the bridge waiting for today's report and thinking about what they had accomplished over the two years they had been exploring. They had discovered over 329 new solar systems, almost 4000 new planets, 15 garden worlds, and no new sapient species. Giana was quiet disappointed at that last part but held hopes the rest of the mission. Despite the dangers a new race could bring the excitement and the possibilities it was why she signed on to this mission.

She was shaken from her thoughts by her Second in Command, a purple asari with green named Amora N'Messa.

"Ma'am, today's report is in." Maris said formally while handing Giana the data pad. Giana laughed softly.

"Amora, I've told you for two years now to call me Giana." The matron smiled while she looks over the report for today.

"And I have been telling you for the past two years that I prefer to call you ma'am. Besides, it's a step up from last year when I would only call you commander." The younger matron said. Giana shrugged while she looked over the report and read how every single system on the ship was still in the green just like it had been for the past three weeks. She wasn't hoping anything would suddenly blow up but during the past few weeks absolutely nothing had happened they hadn't even found any new habitable planets or even slightly habitable ones. Except for the one they were currently orbiting which was being scanned by just about every sensor they had on the ship. From here the planet was mostly covered in snow and ice with large polar caps and grey storm clouds.

"As usual everything is fine," She handed the data pad back to Amora,"and if anyone needs me I'll be in my personal cabin."

"Yes ma'am." Amora said, while Giana just rolled her eyes and walked slowly towards the door to go to her cabin but just as her foot was out the door she heard her Amora shouting.

"Wait!" Giana turned to see her hurrying after her, "Ma'am, we just got something on one of the scanners you might want to see!" Amora said hurriedly.

"Get me the analyst who found it." Giana said with renewed interest and wondered if she signed off today too soon.

The holographic projector that normally displayed the Reverence's location in the galaxy or in space flickered and showed a holo-projection of one of the signals specialist. It was a salarian with a dark brown skin tone that she knew as Marum.

"What is it Marum?" she asked calmly despite the fact that she was tense with anticipation.

"Commander, I was scanning the planet like protocol dictates when I came across something on the planet's surface that appears to be an artificial structure. I believe we have come across a possible Prothean ruin." Marum said excitedly with a smile. Giana's eyes widened at that last piece of information. A Prothean ruin might contain new Prothean technology and become the next great discovery of the era.

"Marum focus every scanner we have on that structure and the surrounding area."

"Yes commander." The holo-projection faded

"Amora I want you to learn everything you can about that structure and I want a full report in the next half hour."

"Yes commander." Amora hurried off to carry out her orders. Within ten minutes news off the unidentified structure had circulated to the entire ship and everyone was working with renewed vigor to learn everything they can about it. Giana however simply went to the cock pit where the pilots were operating the various instruments required to steer the ship. Giana looked down to see the bleak white orb bellow them and waited.

A half hour later Amora returned with another holo-pad and handed it to Giana. Giana looked over the pad and read. The pad included a 3-D image of the structure and showed that it consisted of a square structure built into a cliff face that seemed to be just a threshold for a short tunnel that connected to a vertical shaft that seemed to be some kind of elevator shaft. However the image stopped a short way down the shaft.

"Amora, why does this map of the structure end at this shaft here?" she asked and pointed at the data pad.

"I asked the signals specialists and they told me that the cliff the structure is built in is to thick for our instruments and this area," she pointed to the door threshold," is blocking our scanners from getting a clearer view inside the cliff but I would have to guess we're looking at some kind of bunker or vault."

"Very well, are there any life signs on the planet?"

"None, not even any flora or fauna."

"Alright, get me a secure line to the council and send them everything we know about this thing."

"Yes ma'am"

…

"Commander, the council is on the line in the com room." Amora said over the com system

"Alright I'll be there soon." Giana began to walk towards the com room and straightened out her uniform. She opened the door and activated the terminal to accept the call. Three blue projections flickered to life in front of her. The asari Tevos, the turian councilor Sparatus, and salarian councilor Valern looked at her with their best politician faces on.

"Greetings commander T'Naris," Councilor Tevos said, "We have your report and we would like to congratulate you on your discovery."

"Thank you Councilor."

"Yes, this is quiet the occasion." Councilor Sparatus said allowing himself a small turian grin.

"Indeed," Councilor Valern said, "but celebrations will have to wait. We have new instructions for your mission." At this Tevos and Sparatus both rolled their eyes a bit. Valern was such a joy kill sometimes.

"What are my orders?" Giana asked

"We have decided that you are to remain in orbit of the planet until we can dispatch an archeological team to the site before you continue your mission." Valern said.

"As you wish Councilors." Giana said

"We thank you for your service to the council commander T'Naris." Councilor Tevos said before the line ended. Giana left the com room to inform the crew of the Reverence of the change of plans.

…

In a private council chamber at the top of Citadel Tower the councilors sat at a round table to discuss what they were going to do in private.

"We are going to need a special team for this." Sparatus said

"Agreed now all that is necessary is picking the team members and picking a ship." Said Valern

"They are going to need archeologists, engineers, a security team, and scientists." Tevos said going through her mental list of specialists they would need.

"You're forgetting something Tevos." Sparatus said

"What?" Tevos asked

"We're going to need a Specter."

"He's right; if this is a Prothean facility then we'll need someone to oversee the excavation." Valern said

"Thank you Valern for helping me understand that." Tevos said sarcastically. Valern rubbed the back of his neck a little embarrassed.

"Well let's begin making our list." Sparatus said

"Alright, I think the first thing is to decide which Specter we should send." Said Valern

"Agreed" Tevos and Sparatus said. Ten minutes later after reviewing a list of available Specter operatives Sparatus spoke up first.

"I would like to nominate Specter agent Nihlus Kryik for this mission." Tevos and Valern both pondered this and looked over Nihlus's file.

"I see no reason against this." Valern said

"Nor do I," Tevos said, "so are we agreed?" Sparatus and Valern agreed.

"Then let's decide who else to send. I suggest that we hold a meeting with the committees to and compile a list of any qualified individual that can been of help to us and this mission" said Tevos

"This is going to end with a lot of paper work." Grumbled Sparatus as they left to make the arrangements and Tevos and Valern both nodded in agreement.

…

"She seems quiet qualified for the task at hand." Valern said and the other two councilors agreed. They had had several meetings with different committees and the dossier that was recommended as the head archeologists was an asari named Careena T'Onis.

"Then we'll send her as the chief archeologist if she agrees." Tevos said, "Now what about the rest of the archeological team?"

"I say we discuss that with Dr. T'Onis if she agrees to this mission." Sparatus suggested

"Very well," Tevos typed on a data pad, "now for the security team. I suggest we coordinate with Citadel Fleet to select a ship and Nihlus for the security details." The other two councilors agreed.

"We'll also need to go over the rest of the dossiers for the science and engineering teams." Said Valern and Tevos sighed.

"Let it never be said that we don't have fun at our jobs." Tevos said sarcastically. Sparatus chuckled and Valern just looked un-amused.

…

About a week later, with council support, the expedition team had assembled at the citadel docks to make the final preparations for the journey. Liara T'Soni was saying goodbye to her mother who had taken a few hours off to say goodbye to her daughter. Liara hugged her mother and tried to ignore the fact that her mother's famous low cut dress was causing all sorts of dock workers and a few civilians to trip over their own feet, she noticed a few of them were other asari and smiled a little at that, her mother definitely had a strange fashion sense. She was going on this expedition to assist her mentor Careena, who was in charge of the expedition, and had almost squealed like a new-born when she had heard that they would be going to a Prothean ruin. After she said her goodbyes, Liara went to check on the rest of her associates for this voyage. The Specter Nihlus was giving the security teams a final debriefing and he seemed to be telling them, especially a Citadel Fleet officer named Garrus Varkarian that this mission could change galactic history and there was no room for screw-ups. Liara then checked with the archeological team and checked on a few of her colleges to ask them how they felt about the mission. The response was generally the same: the thrill of adventure with the crushing weight of responsibility on minds every other minute. With the all the necessary equipment now on board their ship the Voyager, it was a simple cruiser from the Citadel Fleet large enough to get them to Vesta but small enough not to be noticed, Liara walked to the crew deck while Careena informed the captain that they were ready to depart. The captain, a turian with gold face paint named Zartan, nodded and gave his pilot, another turian the go-ahead. The pilot signaled Citadel Control and asked for permission to leave the Citadel.

"Acknowledged Voyager this is Citadel Control and you are clear to disembark."


	2. Arrival

**Tenno Reborn**

**Hey guys and girls out there I'm back with more sci-fi space craziness. Also just in case you haven't figured this out yet, I am basically replacing humanity in the Mass Effect universe and replacing it with the Warframe universe since the entire Warframe game takes place in only one star system, The Origin System. I don't know exactly how big an effect this is going to have in the long run because Sheppard and most of the Normandy crew were humans but I will work something out. Any ways, chapter 2 is here! It's longer than the last chapter but we'll get to find out what is in the alien bunker! Don't forget to favorite, follow, and review. Also if you have any ideas for this story put them in a review and I will decide if I will put it in the story; your help is appreciated. I own nothing except the OC's as usual. Enjoy!**

…

**Chapter 2: Arrival**

With out a Mass Relay to send the ship directly to its destination, it would take about two galactic standard weeks to get to Vesta and rendezvous with the Reverence to plan the landing party. This gave Liara a lot of free time on her hands so she decided to talk with Careena. Liara went to talk with the Careena and she passed by the turian Specter, Nihlus, on her way to Careena's cabin. She could make an educated guess but she wanted to know exactly why a council Specter was on the mission.

"Excuse me; you're the Specter agent correct." Liara asked the turian.

"Yes." said the turian. He had red/brown skin and green eyes. He wore red and black armor that had a few scratches in it.

"I was wondering if you could tell me why you were on this mission." Liara asked

"No ma'am, that information is classified but I suspect you have already made a guess" Nihlus said with a grin

"Yes, you're probably here to oversee the excavation and report any Prothean technology."

"Perhaps I am and perhaps I'm not." He chuckled.

"Well, thank you for talking." said Liara as she left for Careena's room.

She found her cabin and pressed the door controls. If Careena didn't want to be disturbed then the door would be locked and Liara wouldn't have bothered. The door slid open and she walked in and she looked around the room. It was about a five by six foot room from what Liara could guess and it was decorated with different objects that Careena had collected over the years. There were geodes from various dig sites, a few fossils of different extinct animals she couldn't recognize, there were even a few pieces of Prothean technology that was either broken or useless or both. But the strangest thing in the room besides the Prothean scraps was the selves full of books and not virtual books or holo-books but actual paper books. Liara had asked Careena about them and she said that those books were the product of an almost century long collection of different works of literature from different species. The only thing missing from the room was Careena. Liara closed the door and asked around for Careena.

"Excuse me." She asked a turian with blue face paint and a visor.

"Yes?"

"Have you seen the head archeologist, an asari named Careena T'Onis?"

"Yes she was going to the mess hall."

"Thank you Mr. Um…"

"My name is Garrus Varkarian but you can call me Mr. Um if you want to." Garrus said with a chuckle.

"Oh! I-I didn't mean to…" She said hurriedly stumbling over just about every syllable.

"Its okay." said Garrus chuckling a little louder.

"Yes, well, thank you." Liara mumbled before she walked away to find Careena.

Careena was in the mess hall like Garrus said. She was eating an early dinner of non-dextro rations and reading a data pad. She looked up at Liara, smiled and she waved her over.

"Hello Liara." she said

"Hello Careena."

"How are you settling in?" Careena asked and went back to reading the data pad.

"Fine, but I wanted to talk to you about the mission." Liara said

"Oh?"

"Yes, I was wondering if you knew anything about the site or if the Council told you anything." Liara said and Careena looked up again and put down the data pad.

"Liara, we are going to an uncharted planet in an uncharted solar system to a site that probably hasn't seen life in tens of thousands of years. I know about as much as everyone else, which is nothing. That is why we are going there. So we can learn what we can." Careena finished

"Oh, thank you I just wanted to know more about the site." Liara said and Careena smiled

"Good, now go gets some food we're going to be here for a long flight." Careena said and Liara got up to do just that.

…

About two weeks later the Voyager was sixteen hours out from the Reverence and Liara was resting in her bed, she and Careena each had personal cabins because Careena was head of the expedition she had asked that Liara received her own cabin. She was thinking about the voyage and how much she had enjoyed Garrus's company. Liara and Garrus had started spending time together when she had finished her work for the day. And then after she quite literally "bumped" into Garrus on her way to the mess hall, they both turned the same corner and almost sent them both of them sprawling on the floor. She and Garrus shared a meal and talked about the mission. After wards Garrus offered to show Liara how to play Skillian Five in the cargo bay and she agreed. She had never played the game before and lost multiple times before they were done but still had a good time with Garrus. During the next week they began chatting during meals and playing various card games in their free times.

Liara smiled at how she unintentionally made a friend in these two weeks aboard this journey to the unknown. Then she frowned a bit at the thought of how tomorrow they would be in orbit over an alien planet, hiding an alien complex, hiding alien secrets. It was great that their journey to Vesta was almost over but she couldn't shake this feeling that there was something hidden on the alien planet that someone or something had gone to a great length to hide. And she felt that when they got to Vesta and found this secret it would change everything. Liara tried to shake these thoughts from her head and tell herself that this was just another dig but she knew it wasn't. She knew that if this was an unexplored Prothean ruin it could contain unimaginable secrets.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard footsteps outside her door and heard the cabin door next to her room slide open and close again. It was probably just Nihlus going to bed like she was; they had rooms next to each other. Liara settled back down on her bed and thought about what could be on Vesta. But she soon grew tired of imagining and decided to just wake up and do her job tomorrow. And with that last thought she rolled over on the mattress and went to sleep because her job would become a lot more important tomorrow. And tomorrow they would begin to make plans to descend on the alien planet.

…

Liara, Careena, and Nihlus waited as the Voyager docked with the Reverence. The plan was to dock with the explorer ship and off load the relief supplies that they brought to make up for the weeks that the Reverence was in orbit over Vesta. Then they would speak with the ship's commander and plan the shore party and then it was off into the unknown which was basically what this whole mission was. "Into-the-unknown" this and "into-the-unknown" that the entire way here and now she was waiting for the cargo to unload so she could be going "into-the-unknown" again.

"Dr. T'Onis and agent Nihlus" They heard over the intercom, "Commander Giana T'Naris is waiting for you on the bridge of the Reverence."

"Thank you, we're on our way." Careena said to the speaker. Then the three of them walked to the bridge, led by a purple skinned asari named Armora, where they met an asari with deep blue skin and eyes.

"Hello, I am Commander Giana T'Naris of the Reverence." Giana smiled

"Hello Commander," Careena said politely, "I am Dr. Careena T'Onis head of the expedition and this is my assistant Liara T'Soni."

"Hello Commander," Nihlus said, "I am Specter Agent Nihlus Kryik, I am here to oversee the excavation."

"Well then shall we get to business?" Giana asked. They both nodded

…

It took them half an hour to come up with a plan they all agreed on. They would take a team of archeologists, Liara included, with the scientists, engineers, and the security team to the threshold structure. They would then set up a base camp and proceed into the compound, if they could get in, but the scientists would stay at the camp and won't enter the compound until it was confirmed safe. The ground team would also be transmitting their progress through the compound live to the members of science team staying at camp and the crew of the Reverence. Then additional scientists and engineers and security would take shuttles down from the Reverence to assist however they could. However the planet only had an eighteen hour day and an eighteen hour night so they would have to wait till the next day before they make their descent into the structure because not even the most eager explorer, which was definitely Liara, wants to go poking around dark ruins at night when the wind chill alone could kill. But the time spent setting up camp and waiting for tomorrow would give them time to examine the outside of the compound and the entrance. The shuttles were loaded with all the necessary equipment to set up a camp and then Liara, Careena, and Nihlus were all in a shuttle together with a few other members of the crew making their descent onto the icy planet Vesta and Giana's voice came over the radio.

"Careena, its Giana." She said.

"Yes Giana?"

"Be advised that we haven't been able to get a good read on the inside of the compound," said Giana, "And we won't be able to help you much once you get inside the compound."

"Acknowledged Giana, we won't be able to move inside the compound so we will worry about that when we get to it." Said Careena

"Alright, we can't see inside however we can see the surrounding area and the landing zone looks clear."

"Alright, talk to you soon." Careena said before ending the call.

On the surface the ground was rocky and snow was spread around in sheets on the ground but you could still see patches of ground underneath. The air was breathable but had higher levels of carbon dioxide and nitrogen so they didn't need to wear helmets but they had to wear breathing masks. They had to clear a few of the rocks but otherwise set up the camp without incident and while most people were setting up camp Liara, and Careena slipped away to talk about the big day tomorrow.

"So we're finally here." Careena said, "We finally get to the big mysterious Vesta and find out how cold it is." She grumbled as she tucked her head further into her black hooded fur coat and insulated lab coat underneath.

"It isn't that bad." said Liara but shivered despite herself. She was wearing a similar outfit as Careena except her coat was white. Careena laughed.

"Uh-huh, well perhaps it will be warmer in that big scary cave the ruins are built inside." Careena said and laughed again. The cave she was talking about was the entrance to the ruins but otherwise was unremarkable besides its size. It was about three stories tall and maybe twenty-five yards wide but it was most definitely scary, especially in the wind and snow and the dark weather. Liara smiled and heard someone shouting to them. They both turned around to see Garrus shouting and waving them over.

"It's getting dark and we have to get back to camp!" He shouted over the wind

"We're coming!" Careena shouted back and they all started walking back. Then Careena nudged Liara and whispered. "Your boyfriend is a little bossy." She snickered while Liara blushed.

"He's not my boyfriend, he's just my friend." She said and it was true neither Liara nor Garrus were really attracted to each other. Careena knew this but teased Liara any way.

"Yeah I'm just her friend, with really good hearing." Both Careena and Garrus laughed and Liara just blushed behind her mask harder despite the freezing cold.

…

After the camp and all the necessary equipment were set up, Liara spent a cold night in her tent with Careena. Both of them were huddled in there in there thermal sleeping bags and waited for morning. When morning did arrive on the frozen planet they saw the sunlight for the first time on the alien world. The planet orbited a red star and it lit the sky with crimson light that glittered off the white snow. The planet was still barren of life but it was still beautiful.

The team geared up and walked toward the cave mouth. The red rock walls of the cliff loomed high over head and the cave entrance opened wide before them. Garrus walked beside Liara while Careena and Nihlus walked in font. They took their first steps into the cave and lit their flash lights. The tunnel went further for a ways and then opened into a cavern maybe three times as big as the cave. Water from the snow above dripped through the rock ceiling and collected in huge underground pools but there was still enough solid ground to walk on. Apparently the planet wasn't completely lifeless because the pools had some form of bacteria in them that made them glow with blue light and lit the walls and ceiling with it. And then they saw the fortress. There was no other way to describe it, it was simply a massive fortress built into the red rock on the opposite side of the cavern. The fortress was one huge metal column that connected to the ceiling and the floor of the cavern and was protected by a large wall that circled around the column. The fortress and wall were made of a white metal and outlined with what looked like gold.

"By the Goddess." Liara said in awe and she wasn't the only one. The whole group had stopped in their tracks.

"Giana are you seeing this?" Careena spoke into her omni tool but was only met with static "Giana?" she tried again.

"The walls are probably too thick to get a signal." said Nihlus who had managed to recover from the shock. Then Giana's voice crackled over the radio.

"Come _zzzzst_… Can anyone hear me? _zzzzst…_Hello?" The signal crackled

"Giana?" Careena tried again.

"Finally! We completely lost your signal for a few minutes even the video went dead."

"Are you getting video now?" Nihlus asked

"Hold on… Goddess!" she gasped

"I think she got it." Garrus whispered and Liara smiled

…

It took them almost half an hour to make their way across the cavern to the wall. They had found a sort of road across the cavern but parts of it had had been crushed by massive stalactites that had fallen from the ceiling which slowed them down a bit but eventually they reached the wall protecting the spire. They approached a gate with what looked like a flower insignia on it and began trying to figure out how to open it. Then one of the engineers, a turian with green face paint, found a panel that looked like it came off so they gathered around but the turian touched the panel it glowed and just slid open without an ounce of resistance. On the inside was a sort of terminal with a hand scanner and strange glyphs on the screen. Liara was shocked, not only was this place intact it still had power. What she also noticed was that the hand scanner had five fingers and the only species that had five fingers were the drell, batarians, and asari.

"What should we do?" asked the engineer

"Well it looks like it wants us to touch that panel. Any volunteers?" Careena asked but there were none. Then Garrus stepped forward took off his glove and put it on the scanner. The scanner glowed and buzzed for a moment and flashed red.

"Well worth a shot." said Garrus

"Maybe we just need someone with five fingers." said Liara and everyone turned to look at her. She just shrugged took off her glove and put it on the scanner. It glowed and buzzed but then Liara felt a small buzzing in the back off her head and the panel glowed green. The doors of the gate slid a part and retracted into the wall while the group stared in awe.

"Well done." Said Careena who patted Liara on the back but she barely noticed because the buzzing didn't go way, just faded a bit. She tried to ignore this as they walked inside.

The gate opened into a courtyard between the outer wall and the spire structure. They walked to spire and the gate slid closed behind them. They came to another, smaller door but this time it slid open as they approached. The inside structure was almost all white with a gold floor. On the floor were glass panels that showed what looked like the water from the pools outside running underneath the floor and on the walls were strange hieroglyphs and symbols but Liara could see the same flower insignia from the gate in the designs. They reached another door at the end of the hallway and it also slid open without them even trying to open it, like who ever built this place never expected anyone to make it past the wall. On the other side of the door they could see that the tower was almost completely hollow because they were standing in a tall room that must have reached all the way to the top of the tower. On the walls there were strange white cables that look like the roots of some massive plant and they reached up to a glowing sphere suspended from the ceiling by the white cables. What was more interesting was that in the air floated dozens of little drone like machines. Each drone was different; some had wings and some had tails, some drones were worm like and others were spheres or cubes. It was like an ecosystem of living machines each depending on the other to survive. Needless to say, the teams were as dumbfounded by this as they were by the cavern.

"Remarkable, it's like the tower is alive." gasped Careena

"Perhaps it is," said Nihlus "and perhaps it is just waiting to swallow us whole if it wakes up."

"I doubt the building is going to eat us, now we should radio the science team that it's safe." Said Careena who turned to Liara, "Liara could you call- Liara?" Liara was staring up at the sphere as the buzzing in her head grew worse and drowned out what the others were saying. Then she collapsed and the last thing she saw before everything went black was Careena's worried face and the sphere.

…

Liara awoke in a white void. She looked for someone anyone to tell her where she was but there was no one. Then a shadow appeared out of the void. Liara couldn't see a face or a body but the shadow seemed to be friendly so she tried to move closer but she was floating weightlessly. Then her feet made contact with some kind of invisible floor and she found she could walk so she moved towards the shadow and it spoke.

"Hello" It said in perfect asari with a voice that was neither male nor female.

"Who are you?" Liara asked

"I am the guardian of this place. I am what my creators would call a Neural Sentry and what your people would call an AI. But you may call me Sentry" It said in the same calming voice.

"Where are we?"

"We are in your mind." Sentry said and Liara realized what this meant. This AI was melding with her mind and speaking to her in a dream.

"What! That means that we're melding right now! How could you do that, you're just a machine and how could you just force your way into my mind!" Liara shouted. It was an outrage among asari to meld with someone by force.

"I apologize for doing this but I had to search your mind to assimilate your language and determine if you are a threat." Sentry explained

"If you didn't know if we were a threat then why did you let us in?" Liara asked

"The gate outside is to only open for my creators and when it scanned your DNA it mistook you for them."

"How could you mistake me for your creators? Our DNA can't be that similar." Liara said

"I am experiencing some unfortunate decay of my neural pathways. I estimate that approximately 30% of my processing power is gone do to corruption. Your species' DNA and that of my creators is still vastly different but similar enough that in my weakened state I mistook you for one of my creators." Sentry said and Liara was surprised.

"Wait, my DNA is similar to the Protheans?" Liara asked

"No, but it is similar to that of my creators." Sentry answered but Liara was confused. So if the Protheans didn't build this place, who did?

"Who were your creators?" Liara asked

"They were the ones known as the Orokin." Sentry said but Liara had never heard of the Orokin. Could there have been another race as advanced as the Protheans? "Now my time with you is growing short and I must give you something."

"What is it?" Liara asked

"The language of my creators and the secrets of this place." Sentry said and disappeared. Then the white void filled with words, glyphs and images. Then for the second time Liara's vision went black.

…

Liara awoke on the golden floor of the tower. A salarian med was checking over vitals while everyone looked at her worried. She moaned and sat up.

"How long was I out?" Liara asked

"About thirty seconds but you seem to be fine." the salarian said making one last scan with his omni-tool.

"Are you alright?" asked Careena worriedly

"I assure you that Mrs. T'Soni is perfectly fine." Said a voice Liara recognized. Everyone turned to see a drone. This drone was white with delicate wing like thrusters and a single blue optic.

"I am Sentry and I have a lot to tell you." Said the drone as it floated over to a wall activated a panel. The wall slid back to reveal an elevator big enough for all of them. "Now if you will please follow me." No one moved until Liara got up and got in the elevator.

"I'll explain on the way." She said

…

The elevator lowered them down a shaft that seemed endless while Liara and Sentry brought the team up to speed on what this place was and what Liara had seen. The elevator finally began to slow and they were lowered in to a large circular room. The room was like the rest of the building: white walls with gold floors and flower glyphs on the walls. But in front of them was a metal pedestal and on the pedestal sat a golden circle with six straight metal pieces coming out of it and different markings on its surface. Behind the pedestal was an arch and inside the arch was a wall of blackish blue liquid substance with little sparkles in it like they were looking into the infinite void of space.

"This," Sentry said hovering over the pedestal, "is a Void Key. It was used by the Orokin to operate Void Gates like this one." Sentry hovered over to the arch.

"Where does it go?" Nihlus asked

"I have no knowledge of where the Gate goes or what is behind it. All that I know is that this entire facility was built to power and protect this Gate." said Sentry while Careena picked up the Void Key.

"So how does this work?" she asked

"Simple, hold the Key in front of the Gate and they will activate." Sentry explained

Careena did as Sentry instructed and held out the key. The key began to float and glowed with golden sparks that flowed into the blackness inside the gate. The blackness faded and cleared to show another room. This room was almost identical the room they were in except the in the middle of the room floated a large golden pod. The pod was big enough to hold a person and was completely sealed.

"Goddess, it's a cryo-pod!" Careena gasped as a few engineers and medics moved forward to check the pods vitals.

"It looks like whatever is in it is still alive but vitals are weak. Perhaps another year or two in this place and the pod would have lost power." said a medic

"Everyone we're going to take this thing back to the camp. Someone radio the science team were bringing back a very big surprise for them.


	3. Awakening

**Tenno Reborn**

**Hello my babies. I'm back and brought space ninjas! So I was reading over a PM I got regarding this story and honestly, I'm hurt. So I would like to ask that if you don't like something in my story just say so but don't say things like(and this is from the PM): 'Your execution is completely off in this story and I can say without a doubt that you have no business in writing and should just hang up this story now'. I mean REALLY! I work my ass off to bring you guys these stories and do the best I can and I get THAT! Most of you have been very supportive of this story and I thank you but if you're someone who would say things like THAT you can go fuck your selves and die! It's my story and if there are a few holes here and there who cares, I've been getting a lot of crap about how "asari and humans don't have similar genetics." Well they do in this story! Anyways I'm going to be trying to throw some action into this chapter. I own nothing except the OC's and don't forget to favorite, follow, and review. If you have an idea about this story put it in a review and I'll look over it. And if you have trouble imagining the warframe's appearance then just look up the Excalibur warframe. Enjoy!**

…

**Chapter 3: Awakening**

The cryo-pod hovered silently in the lab of the Reverence. It had been moved to the ship for further research because the ship had better facilities to house the pod. But when the pod first was brought out of the cave the scientists almost started a stampede trying to examine it and had to be shooed away by Nihlus and Careena like a pack of scavenging varen. The pod was monitored constantly and scanned a thousand times but no one had the slightest idea how to open it.

"So anyone got any ideas?" Careena asked. She, Liara and, Nihlus had all come back to the ship with the pod along with some security officers, Garrus among them but he was off doing other duties.

"You've asked that five times and the answer is still no." Said Nihlus

"Well we can't just let it sit there and the Sentry was no help." Giana said a little irritated. She and Armora had come down see the alien that was being brought on to her ship.

What about the Void Key?" Liara asked and everyone looked at each other as if to say 'why didn't I think of that'. The Void Key was the second thing that was brought aboard with the pod. The first thing they brought was the Sentry himself who still had enough processing power to operate the drone even though he was miles away from the Vesta Spire, which is what they had taken to calling the building now. The Sentry had offered to help with the alien in the pod once they got it open but was never given instructions to open the pod by his creators. Liara was the one who got the key and even volunteered to open the pod. Careena didn't like this but Liara pointed out the she was the only one who could understand the alien's language. Careena finally agreed but insisted that she and Nihlus go with her along with six security guards. Liara, Careena, and Nihlus entered lab that contained the pod. Liara held out the Void Key in her hand and stepped towards the pod. The key glowed with golden sparks and the pod began moved so that it was now upright and hissed as it depressurized. Four protective metal panels slid back on the pod and showed the glass doors beneath them.

Liara could seen that the figure inside was a male and he wore a suit of white armor from head to toe. The armor looked almost organic, like an insects shell or a second skin and on the helmet there were no eye holes or optics that she could see. There were some sort of designs on his arms and shoulders. The most notable thing about the alien was the horn in the middle of his forehead. The glass panels opened and the alien's limp body fell on to the floor. Liara thought that it might be dead but the creature stirred and tried to stand but flopped back face down on the floor and then shuddered slightly. He appeared to be unconscious.

"Get him on to the table and the doctors will examine him." Careena said to the guards and motioned for two of them to pick him up.

…

Anton was now far from unconscious. When the pod had opened and he fell to the floor he was unconscious but the nanobots in his blood quickly woke him and he could see he was in some sort of lab and he was surrounded by aliens. There were nine in total; seven of them were some sort of reptilian soldiers with the one in red and black armor as there commander and the other two were what looked like blue skinned females with strange tentacle crests on their heads. Anton tried to get up but his mussels hadn't shaken the effects of cryo-sleep even with the nanobots. Anton activated the emergency adrenaline boosters in his suit and shuttered slightly as the chemicals worked their way through his body. Anton then lay completely still and pretended to have passed out again while he planned his next moves. His suit didn't have the energy for a Radial Blind and he had no weapons. He only had enough reserve energy for one Slash Dash and then could only rely on his strength and agility implants and is close quarters training.

The older looking female said something in a language Anton's translator didn't recognize and two of the reptile soldiers approached. Anton had to think of a plan fast. There were two soldiers on Anton's right and another two on his left and the two approaching him. Behind the two soldiers that were approaching him, the reptile commander and the two females were standing in the door way. He couldn't see any cameras but that didn't mean there weren't any watching him. If he was going to get out of this he would have to incapacitate each of the aliens and get to the weapons stashed in a secret compartment on the back of his cryo-pod and with luck there weren't any cameras to raise an alarm but that was unlikely.

The two soldiers stood over him, put away their weapons and leaned down to pick Anton up. Anton saw his chance. As fast as he could Anton sprung to his feet and drove the top of his head in to one soldier's chin. The soldier fell to the floor unconscious and Anton whirled around and drove a strength enhanced knee directly in to the other soldier's gut. The soldier's armor was useless as the wind was knocked from his lungs and he threatened to fall over but Anton caught him and threw him into the two soldiers on his left, knocking them over. Before the two soldiers on the right had a chance to aim their guns, Anton ran at them and hit one soldier with a jump spinning crescent kick to the head and he fell to the ground. The last remaining soldier brought up his rifle to fire but Anton grabbed the gun and pointed it at the ceiling. The rifle went off and sent a burst of bullets in to the ceiling and Anton grabbed the side arm hanging from the soldier's hip and smashed the handle in to the soldier's head knocking him unconscious. Anton spun around and pointed the gun at the commander, who had his side arm out and ready now. The commander stared at Anton and he stared back with his finger on the trigger.

…

Liara couldn't believe what she had just seen. The alien was on the ground and not moving at all. Then he was on his feet and had cleared the entire room in less than twenty seconds. Now he had a gun pointed at Nihlus's head and was about to put a bullet in his brain.

"Wait!" Liara yelled but neither of them moved. "Wait!" Liara yelled again but this time in Orokin. The alien turned his head and looked at her briefly but then turned back to stare at Nihlus. Then Liara stepped forward and stood directly in between the alien and Nihlus.

"Liara! What in the goddess's name are you doing?" Careena yell

"Get out of the way!" Nihlus barked. The alien just stared at her while she looked down the barrel of his gun.

"We are not here to harm you." Liara said in Orokin, "We found you in cryo-stasis and we brought you here. Now please put the gun down." The alien stared at her for a second and dropped the gun. "Put the gun down." She said to Nihlus in asari and reluctantly put the gun back on his hip.

"Is everything alright," Liara heard Sentry say as he floated into the room, "I heard a lot of noise just now." Then he saw the alien and began speaking in Orokin

"Hello," Sentry said, "we are sorry for your rude awakening but we would like-"

"Who are you?" the alien interrupted and pointed to Liara. It spoke with a deep and slightly metallic voice but it also spoke with authority.

"My name is Liara T'Soni and I am part of the archeology team that discovered you on Vesta. This is Dr. T'Onis, the head archeologist and Nihlus Kryik, a Specter agent." Liara said while trying to keep her voice from shaking. She had just had a gun pointed at her after all.

"Vesta?" The creature asked confused

"That's what we call the planet that we found you on." Liara explained "Can we ask you some questions?"

"First I have a question for you. How can you be speaking my language?"

"That would be me." Sentry answered, "I 'melded' with her mind and gave her the knowledge of Orokin language. Also I have prepared a file of her language and I can upload it to your neural interface if you would allow it."

"Fine." said the creature after a second of silence. Sentry floated over to the alien and they stared at each other in silence for a minute until the alien spoke in perfect asari.

"Testing. Testing. 1, 2, 3. Can you understand me now?" it asked

"Yes I can, now can we ask you a few questions?"

"Very well, what do you want to know?" it asked

"What is your name?" Liara asked

"I am Anton Tiwin Zarleck. I am a Tenno of the Orokin Empire or I was." He said

"What is a Tenno? Is that what you call your species?" Careena asked

"Almost, Tenno are warriors who have under gone extensive surgeries, gene alterations and physical training to turn them into masters of blades and guns. We are hunters of evil and protectors of those those who can't protect themselves. Now my question for you is: what are you?" Anton asked

"I am an asari." Careena said

"What is an asari?" Anton asked

"It is the name of our species." Said Liara

"Interesting, and what are you?" Anton asked Nihlus

"I am a turian." He said

"Where am I?" Anton asked

"You are aboard the Council exploration ship the ESV Reverence." Nihlus said

"I would like to know what you plan to do with me now." Anton said to Nihlus

"We are going to take you back to Council Space where you will be asked more questions or we will take you back to your people if they still exist." Nihlus explained.

"I doubt that my people survived." Anton said, "And if they have they are still in cryo-sleep. I will go to 'Citadel Space' as you call it."

"Very well we will arrange for your living quarters." Nihlus said

"No need. Everything I need is right there." Anton pointed to the pod which still hovered in the middle of the lab. It was designed to support Anton even after he was taken out of stasis.

"As you wish." Nihlus said and turned to leave and tell the Council of what happened. Liara had the feeling it was going to be a long report.

…

Careena and Liara stayed behind to talk with Anton more. They all sat in the lab at a table next to Anton's pod and continued to question Anton about his people and about anything he knew while the soldiers Anton had fought limped or were carried to a medic.

"How long were you in cryo?" Careena asked. Anton thought for a second and stood up. He activated a consol on the cryo-pod and began talking in Orokin.

"About fifty thousand years." Anton said

"So you do know anything about the Protheans?" Liara asked

"No, they were dead long before I was born."

"Do you know what happened to them?" Careena asked

"No, by the time the Orokin Empire began the Protheans were long dead." Anton said

"Who where the Orokin?" Liara asked

"I…I don't know." Anton said sounding almost embarrassed

"How do you not know?" Liara asked

"Most of my memories were erased. Amnesia is one side effect of cryo-sleep."

"Do you have any other side effects?" Careena asked

"Extreme nausea, muscle atrophy, and in extremely rare cases, frost bite." Anton said

"Should we call a medic?" Careena asked

"I am fine. My nanobots and cybernetic implants prevent most of the symptoms." Anton said but no sooner then he said that a loud growling sound came from Anton.

"Is that one of the symptoms?" Careena asked a little worried

"No but I haven't eaten in thousands of years." Anton said a little embarrassed and rubbed the back of his neck

"Oh, well we will have a medic examine you and determine what food you can eat." Careena said and chuckled

"Very well." Anton said and stood up. He put his hands on his helmet which hissed and began the process of unsealing his helmet. The mask unsealed and slid back over the top of his head. Anton pulled the helmet off his head and Liara and Careena could see Anton's very well defined face. Liara and Careena were surprised to see that Anton's species looked almost like asari but instead of blue skin and a crest Anton had pale skin and black fibers on his head. A large horizontal scar ran across his cheek bones, under Anton's eyes and across his nose. Another scar ran diagonally from the left side of his forehead, between his eyes and ended at the right side of his jaw. However his eyes were his most noticeable feature. His left eye was a deep blue but his right eye was red; a side effect of the genetic tampering used in his trianing. Anton looked at Liara and Careena and noticed them staring.

"Is something wrong?" Anton asked. His voice was still deep and rich but was no longer had a metallic ring without the helmet and mask. The two asari blushed and looked away.

"We should give you some privacy." Careena said. Then she and Liara left while Anton removed his armor from his arms, shoulders, chest, back, and finally his boots but he left his armored pants on. He wore a vest like under suit beneath the armor and on his arms and shoulders were tattoos identical to the ones on the arms on his warframe. Anton then sat at the table and waited for the doctor and noticed that more than a few of the crew members were walking by the window and looking in when they thought he wasn't looking. After the doctor, who turned out to be an asari that seemed to hold onto his body a little longer then necessary, examined him she determined that he could eat the asari rations. Then he was brought a meal, some water, and something called an omni-tool with a codex for him to read.

…

After Anton finished reading the codex and was up to speed on current galactic history, he found a turian activity that he could truly connect with. There were many aspects about all these new aliens that he found strange. Like how asari were a race of mono gendered aliens who could talk with their brains or how salarians were short lived, brainy amphibians but, when it came to turians and their military policy of full contact sparing to relieve stress, that he could really understand since Tenno often had friendly sparing matches between clan mates. However Tenno didn't really spar so much as duel with swords, firearms, and various super powers. But Anton could also spar with the same enthusiasm as dueling.

Anton had seven wins and zero loses, twelve wins if you count the soldiers from the lab, and there were no end of challengers. There was even a winner's pot forming for anyone who could beat Anton in a sparring match. Of course Anton had to remove the upper half of his warframe so he couldn't cheat. He would even think about it even though Anton's strength came more from implants not the warframe, but they didn't need know that. However he had, understandably, gotten a lot of stares when he first walked into the sparring room until the supervisor told everyone to shove their eyes back in their heads. Anton had so far fought four more turians, two asari with very extensive commando training, and one very well trained salarian. Oddly the salarian came closest to beating him. He just didn't expect that any creature could move as fast or duck and weave like that salarian did. The asari and one female turian were the second closest but Anton's natural bulk won out against their faster punches. Also he didn't underestimate them because they were women either. His earliest memory from training was getting his ass kicked by a female instructor in the training ring. The other three challengers were turian males and were easier because their egos and their arrogance made them sloppy and easy to take down. The sparring was not only fun but away for the crew to stop being so freaked out by him, which he didn't blame them for either. His armor wasn't exactly friendly and they had all probably seen the security footage of him taking down those turian soldiers. But now they all smiled and cheered as him and his opponents traded blows.

Anton's fun ended when Nihlus motioned him over to the sides.

"I see that you are bonding with the crew by punching them." Nihlus said with a faint smile or what might have been a smile; it was hard to tell with turians and their mandibles.

"Fights are a good equalizer and now they're cheering and placing bets and stopped staring so I call that a win for my species. Care to go a few rounds Specter?" Anton said with a smile, he was having fun.

"I was hoping for a good sparing match today but crew bonding will have to wait. The council is on the hot line in the com room." Nihlus said

"All right we can beat each other up later. I'll be their soon." Anton said and retrieved his gear. He was surprised by the number of groans he got when he told everyone he was done for now, guess he put on a good show or they really wanted to see who got that winner's pot. Anton put his armor and helmet back on and made his way up to the com room were the council was waiting for him. He looked at the three councilors in front of him and knew they were politicians from the masked look on their face; they didn't let anything give away what they were about to say or what they were thinking.

"Greetings Councilors," Anton said with a respectful bow, "I am Anton Zarleck at your service. Is there something you wanted?"

"Greetings, I am Councilor Tevos, and this is Councilors Sparatus and Valern." said the asari councilor, "We have heard Nihlus's report and wanted to see you ourselves."

"Yes and we wanted to ask you a few questions about your species." said Sparatus who apparently was a straight to the point kind of person.

"Very well, what would you like to know?" Anton asked

"Are there more of your species or are you do last?" Valern asked

"I am the only Tenno awake from cryo-sleep at the time but there are thousands more still asleep."

"If awoken, would these Tenno be a threat to us?" Sparatus asked

"The Tenno have no reason to go to war with the Council." Anton said. He got the feeling that Sparatus didn't like him

"If the Tenno aren't aggressive towards us then why did you hospitalize six Citadel Fleet officers?" Sparatus said a bit more aggressively. So that was what this was about. "It seems that-"

"Sparatus!" Councilor Tevos silenced him, "Perhaps you should let him explain himself."

"Thank you." Anton said to Tevos and then turned to Sparatus, "I understand your anger councilor but consider this. I had been a sleep for thousands of years after a long bloody war with an alien race. Then I am woken up one day by a group of aliens with guns pointed at me, ready to drag me onto an operating table and you're surprised that I responded with violence."

"Nihlus says that those guns were only filled with stun rounds and they were trying to get you onto the operating table to check your vitals since you passed out." Sparatus countered

"How was I supposed to know that at the time?" Anton asked but Sparatus just stood in silence so he continued, "I can assure you that neither the Tenno nor I have any reason for hostility against the Council." The other councilors seemed content with his reasoning while Sparatus continued to say nothing. "Is there anything else you would like to ask?"

"You said something about a war with an alien race before you went to sleep. Who were you speaking of" Valern said

"I do not know. Many of my memories were lost in cryo but I remember most of the war. The Orokin were engaged in a struggle with beings only referred to as the Sentients. The Orokin created a virus called the Technocyte Virus to win. I don't know what happened after that but the Orokin sent the Tenno into cryo and then disappeared along with the Sentients." Anton explained

"Interesting." Tevos said and looked thoughtful for a moment, "One more question, do you plan to awaken the other Tenno now?"

"I have no reason to. The Tenno were created to be the wardens of the Origin System, our home, so unless the system is under threat then we have no purpose but to stay in cryo. I however wish to know more about Council Space before I rejoin my brothers and clan mates."

"Then we look forward to your arrival." Valern said

"As do I." Anton said

"That is all for now." Tevos said before the transmission ended.

…

They finally made it back to the Serpent Nebula and Anton saw the Citadel for the first time and it was his turn to be dumbfounded for once on this trip. The massive space station with its arms spread open was simply amazing. Anton had seen armor that could spit fire and lighting, he had fought monsters made of rotting flesh, and walked through Gates that bend time and space but nothing could compare to seeing the Citadel loom in the nebula's cloud before him. They docked before a huge crowd of people. The Council had released the news of Anton's awakening shortly after their talk on the Voyager. Anton had watched the video of the council answering hundreds of questions while showing a picture of him in full armor to a huge crowd.

Security had to push a path through the crowd as Anton made his way through the docking area. Anton heard so many people asking so many questions in different languages that he was surprised that his upgraded translator didn't blow up trying to translate the noise. Anton was trying his best to answer all of them.

"Anton what do you look like under the suit?" An asari reporter asked.

"Like a Tenno." He said vaguely

"Do you need that suit to survive?" a salarian asked.

"No but I'm don't want to take it off any time soon."

"Is it true you hospitalized those officers?" a turian asked. What was with the turians and that little incident?

"Yes, but they accepted my sincere apology afterwards." Anton said true fully; he had apologized to those soldiers. Anton finally made his way through the crowd and had a little more insight of what a celebrity would go through and he didn't like it.

…

Three weeks went by and Anton was fighting daily boredom. He was staying at an apartment that was normally reserved high end politicians and ambassadors. He technically was an ambassador to his people but was first and foremost a warrior so he spent most of his time reading about alien culture, meditating, exercising and practicing in a shooting range with his Tenno weaponry which he had moved with his sleeping pod to his apartment. Anton had three weapons stashed in his pod: the MK1-Braton rifle, the Lato pistol and his custom built Skana sword. His guns he practiced with in the shooting range but his sword he could only practice with in his apartment as long as he didn't slice any furniture in half. Anton also practice with other guns at the range but preferred is Tenno built weapons; thankfully he had managed to modify his guns to work on thermal clips. Anton had also tried walking around the Citadel Persidium and seeing what the Citadel had to offer. He enjoyed his walks if he could ignore the stares he got for his suit.

The press never stopped bugging him though. Just yesterday he had gone to a press conference to appease some of the reports that buzzed around like insects. He had also been asked to appear without his helmet on if he could so now his face was plastered on every extranet site imaginable. If this kept up he would have to leave the Citadel and go to new worlds. He was sort of sorry he got off the Reverence in the first place.

…

Far away in deep space a vessel drifted silently through the blackness. Unlike the Reverence and Voyager, this ship didn't have the graceful design of an asari explorer or the powerful angles of a turian warship. This ship looked more like a tumor than anything else with its ugly greens and blacks and with its awkward, bulbous hull shape. It had a sinister atmosphere about it like just looking at it would fill an average person with dread. I was a grineer galleon and it was picking up a signal.

On the ship a grineer foot soldier hurried down a dark hallway. The air was filled with what seemed to be pollution and stank of death and suffering but this didn't matter to the grineer who had lost almost all sense of smell over the generations. The grineer was about seven feet tall and covered in bulky black armor plating especially on his legs and shoulders. His face, which would normally be covered by a circular white face plate, was an ugly mess of wrinkles despite the grineer being relatively young and was a sort of unhealthy color. The grineer ran down the hallway on his artificial legs. Most of the grineer had prosthetic limbs and cybernetic implants to make up for their decaying genetics from generations of cloning. The grineer were a clone race and they numbered in the millions. Their society was built on conquest, envy, and xenophobia. They swallowed whatever colony or ship they came across and slaughtered any aliens they found. In grineer's eyes, if it wasn't grineer it should be destroyed in the most violent and prejudice way possible.

The grineer ran to the bridge and approached the grineer captain in dark green armor.

"Captain Grell," the soldier said in their gruff, chattering language, "we have detected an energy signal coming from a planet in a near be star system."

"What about it is worth my attention?" Grell asked

"It appears to be an Orokin signal." The soldier said and Grell turned his head

"Lock on to that signal and find its source!" Grell bellowed.


	4. First Blood

**Tenno Reborn**

**Hey everyone I'm back. Been going over some plot holes that were pointed out to me like how long Anton was asleep and other things like that. They were really minor things but can't hurt to fix them. Also sorry if this chapter took me longer to finish but I've been fighting off writer's block. Anyways, chapter 4 is here and don't forget to favorite, follow and review. If you have any ideas for this story, PM me or write a review. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 4: First Blood**

Anton meditated in his room and waited. He wasn't even sure what he was waiting for but he could feel it in his bones that it was coming soon. However, having no idea when this thing was coming or if there was something about to happen, Anton could only wait. Then a voice came over his communicator.

"Tenno," it said in a synthetic voice, "you have to listen to me."

"Who are you?" Anton asked, in his voice was an unspoken threat not to test him

"I am the Lotus and you have to listen to me. The planet now called Vesta is under threat."

"What? How do you know about Vesta? And how are you speaking Orokin?"

"I have been watching the Tenno and I know what happened on Vesta. I have sent out a call to all Tenno I could find in there hidden tombs amongst the stars."

"All right assuming that I trust you, what is happening that the Tenno must be awakened?" Anton asked

"The grineer, remnants of the Orokin era, are spreading. They flood through the Origin System consuming anything in the way of their corrupt empire. They are hunting the Tenno hidden in the Origin System because you are the only thing that can stop them." Lotus explained

"What does this have to do with Vesta?"

"While the main grineer forces continue to grab control of the entire Origin System, several galleons hunt for Orokin technology to exploit and give them an edge in their war for control. One of these ships has made its way beyond the Origin System tracking a signal to Vesta. If they unlock the Spire they will use it and the Sentry's knowledge of the Tenno to further their quest to exterminate you." Said Lotus

"You said that you were awaking the other Tenno. Why couldn't they go? They must be closer to Vesta then I am." Anton asked

"No they aren't, they're still asleep and even if they were awake they would bogged down beginning the war on the grineer in the Origin System and they won't be able to leave till the Grineer are defeated. The Spire was one of the Orokin's listening towers to spy on any alien species that might discover the Origin System. I suspect that you were placed there as a guard. That is why the Void Key was buried with you, so the Sentry could activate you to defend the Spire. You are one of the only Tenno outside of the System and the others are too far away to aid Vesta" Lotus explained

"The Sentry told the exploration team that it didn't know I was behind the Gate and that the purpose of the Spire was to power the Void Gate." Anton said

"That was most likely a lie to throw the explorers off the true purpose of the Spire." Lotus reasoned, "The Sentry is probably still monitoring alien communications even though the Orokin are gone."

"You said the Grineer are on their way to Vesta right now. How will I get there in time? It took me weeks to get to the Citadel." Anton asked

"Correction, the Grineer are all ready at Vesta right now."

"What! How do you know this?" Anton asked

"The Sentry contacted me and told me everything. I am still trying to awaken the other Tenno so you won't have much help from me but the alien Councilors seem to trust you and I believe they have a solution. Use their help to get to Vesta." Lotus suggested

"All right, but why would the Sentry contact you?" Anton asked

"I can't tell you that but you have to trust me about the Spire." Lotus said

"Alright I'll go to Vesta and stop the Grineer. Can I expect to stay in contact with you?" Anton asked

"I am using all my resources to gather the Tenno but you will be able to contact me." Lotus said

"How are you talking to me anyways?" Anton asked

"Sentry patched me through the Spire and used the exploration team's communications to reach the Citadel. Also, don't tell anyone that we talked. It will just make it more difficult for them to trust you. Good luck Tenno." Lotus said and the call ended.

Anton wasted no time in contacting the exploration team. They had stayed in contact over the past few weeks so they could see if he knew anything more about the Spire. He didn't know anything about the Spire but he stayed in contact mostly to talk to Liara. He liked the asari and was grateful to the other explorers for getting him out of cryo. So Anton went to his terminal to call her but all he got was static. Anton then contacted Lotus again.

"Lotus, I can't get through to dig team." Anton said

"The Grineer are probably jamming communications but the Spire can cut through their jamming. Stand by while I patch you through." Lotus said and the line went quiet for a few minutes.

"Hello! Can anyone hear me?!" Liara's voice yelled over the line and through the static

"Liara? Is that you?" Anton asked

"Anton? Thank the goddess. How did you get through the interference?" Liara asked

"Uh, I was contacted by Sentry and he said you were in trouble." Anton lied, "What is happening?"

"We were attacked an hour ago by some kind of hostile aliens that we never have seen before. We were pushed back into the Spire. Goddess, there are so many of use dead and injured. The security force tried to protect use against those things but there were so many of them and they came out of nowhere." Liara said, her voice was cracking

"Liara, I know you're scarred but you have to listen. I am going to contact the council and tell them what is happening. Are you hurt and what about the Voyager? It was supposed to be protecting Vesta." Anton asked while he called the Council on his omni-tool.

"I am fine and we lost contact with the Voyager. We think that it might be destroyed or else we would have heard something." Liara explain while trying to calm herself

"Okay now I just got a hold of the Council, I will tell them what is happening and they will send help okay." Anton said

"Okay I am going to get Careena but please be quick." Liara said

"Hello this is Citadel Embassies how, can we help you?" a receptionist said over Anton's omni-tool

"This is Anton Zarleck and I need to speak with the council." Anton said

"Oh, well the Council is in a meeting at the moment, so if you-"

"Well then tell them that this is an emergency. I just received a transmission and I think an alien race just declared war on the Council." Anton interrupted

"I'll patch you through immediately." The receptionist said with more urgency and Anton waited

"Hello? Anton? Are you there?" He heard from his terminal

"Careena?"

"Thank the Goddess. Anton, how did you contact us? Liara said something about the Sentry and…"

"Careena I'll explain later but I'm about to get a hold of the Council and…" Anton tried to explain but was interrupted by his omni-tool.

"Hello?" said a voice. It sounded like Tevos.

"Councilor, its Anton I just got a communication from the dig team on Vesta. They said they were under attack by an unknown alien race. I am going to patch you through to Careena T'Onis, the head of the expedition team." Anton explained to the councilor.

…

After Careena had finished explaining the situation, Anton had told the council that he knew who was attacking the dig team. He had been asked to meet with the Council immediately so went straight to citadel tower and met the Council.

"You said that you know who these aliens are, so tell us." Tevos said

"They are called Grineer. They are a remnant of the Orokin Empire just like the Tenno but they don't want peace. They want war and bloodshed. They want to destroy anything that isn't Grineer." Anton explained

"Why didn't you tell us about them sooner?" Sparatus asked

"I didn't know they were this big a threat. I received a transmission from my home the Origin System. The Grineer are spreading at an alarming rate and threaten the stability of the entire system. They group attacking the dig team on Vesta is only the beginning. If they take control of the Origin System they will use its resources to begin an invasion of the entire galaxy." Anton lied.

He really didn't know anything about these Grineer and was just repeating what Lotus told him. All he knew was that the grineer were remnants the Orokin and they acquired cloning technology sometime in the fifty thousand years he was asleep.

"I doubt they could accomplish something like that with just one star system." Valern said, "But we will dispatch our forces to Vesta."

"You don't understand. The Grineer are a clone race. Their soldiers are mass produced to be added to their army. They see themselves as the pinnacle of evolution and all other races are trash to be purged from the universe. With just one planet they would have enough resources to create an army to take over the Origin System. With an entire solar system they would have the resources to conquer dozens more. How long do you think you could hold out against an enemy that could grow millions of soldiers in a single day? You would be over whelmed and slaughtered." Anton explained

The Councilors looked at each other and then looked back at Anton

"These… Grineer," Sparatus said, "have made their desire for war clear. We shall dispatch troops to Vesta and then we will go to war with the Grineer."

"Agreed." Tevos and Valern both said

"Then the Tenno shall fight with you." Anton said and the councilors looked surprised

"You said the Tenno were still asleep." Tevos said

"Yes, they were to sleep until the Origin System needed them but now the Origin System is under threat and the Tenno are beginning to awaken. Who do you think sent me the transmission?" Anton asked grateful his helmet hid his face so they couldn't see his lies.

"How long till they are awake?" Sparatus asked

"By the time you can send help to Vesta they will be ready to fight." Anton assured

"Then we shall send a cruiser to help immediately." Sparatus said

"One more thing, I would like to be on the ship sent to Vesta. I know the most about the Grineer." Anton explained

"Very well." Sparatus said and Anton left the council chambers.

When Anton got into the elevator he muted his helmet so no one could hear what he was saying and opened a channel to Lotus.

"Did you get all that?" He asked

"Yes, with the Council's aid this war has already tipped in our favor. Well done Tenno." She said

"When I get to Vesta, I will need transport back to Origin System." Anton said

"I will send a stealth ship to meet the Citadel Fleet cruiser before you get to Vesta. Tell them that it was sent by the other Tenno." Lotus said and the call ended.

…

Anton walked to the docks and ignored the usual stares he got from other citizens as he made his way through the crowds. He was looking for the Citadel cruiser, the Triumphant, which would take him to Vesta. He had asked how they were going to get there and had found out that the council had authorized the activation of a dormant Mass Relay near Vesta. So now the trip would be about ten hours instead of three weeks.

He found the Triumphant at docking bay E21 and climbed aboard. After more stares from the crew he made his way to the cargo bay to check on his weapons. They were here because after a while of practicing with them he needed more ammo for his guns. So when he went to a weapon manufacture to have some ammo made it was found out that he had smuggled the weapons onto the Citadel he had to relinquish his guns and his sword. In his defense he hadn't meant to bring weapons in illegally but they were hidden in his pod so they weren't picked up by scanners. So after they had been confiscated he had gone back to the weapon manufacturer and gave him the plans for the ammo. It was hard since the bullets were mostly made out of metals that hadn't been discovered yet but they had managed. So he had told the council he would need his weapons and ammo moved onto the Triumphant for this mission.

Anton inspected his MK1-Braton rifle and his Lato pistols. He then disassembled and reassembled both guns and inspected each piece to make sure they wouldn't malfunction while he was in the field. While he was doing this he wondered how many companies were already beginning to manufacture replicas. After he was done inspecting his weapons he went to the captain to warn him to expect a ship to meet them on route to Vesta and then went to find a place where he could contact Lotus for more information and to sleep a while before the mission.

…

Nine and a half hours after they had left the Citadel, Anton's ship had arrived. It was small, just barley big enough for one person with a flat body and a long tail between its two engines. The ship was a dark blue color and was modeled after a long extinct animal from Earth called a manta ray. Anton had already met with the commander and the rest of the crew. The original plan was for them to simply blow the ship to pieces but Anton had suggested that the Grineer had probably taken hostages. From the look of it the commander, a gruff looking turian with red face paint, didn't like Anton questioning him in front of the crew but he didn't care. So now the plan was for Anton to fly to the Grineer ship and open the hanger for the shuttles to land. They would then sweep the ship and locate any hostages. Or at least that would be the plan if Anton hadn't slipped away to get to the Grineer ship before that general could blow it up.

Anton waited in the air lock for his shuttle to dock. The shuttle docked and the outer door opened. The room depressurized and Anton stepped into the person shaped engraving. The magnetic clamps locked Anton into the shuttle, the shuttle launched away from the cruiser, and the doors slid shut. It was dark for a second and then the inside of the shuttle lit up with different readings and the flight computer plotted a course to the Grineer ship. Lotus's voice came over the radio.

"You're objective is to get to the hanger and open the door for the Council troops. I will send your shuttle to an entry point three floors up, so you will have to make your way through the vents and then through the halls to get there. You will have thirty minutes before the Triumphant reaches the ship and blows it up. Also, we don't know if there are hostages on the ship so keep an eye out and watch your fire." Lotus said

"Must say, I kind of missed these assignments after fifty thousand years in that pod but these one man infiltration shuttles are a lot smaller then I remember. And how did you know what I was planning to do?"

"Ten minutes to insertion, be ready Tenno." Lotus warned completely ignoring him.

…

The vent cover dropped to the floor with clang but no Grineer were around to hear. Anton dropped to the ground without the slightest noise. He had his Braton out and ready but the room he had dropped into was clear. He heard Lotus again.

"You're clear; the ship's sensors haven't noticed you." Lotus informed him

Anton said nothing. He was trained to talk only when absolutely necessary and remain undetected for as long as possible. He made his way through the hall and followed the blue way point that appeared on his HUD. Then he came to an open room and his helmet marked six life signs as a grineer patrol team swept the room. Anton could tell the Grineer once looked like him but were just husks of their former selves now. There were four soldiers on the ground and two more patrolling the catwalks above him and no cameras. If he took out the ones on the catwalks first he could literally get the drop on the ones on the ground. So made his way to the stairs and ducked behind a stack of crates as a Grineer walked by. Seeing a chance for an easy kill, Anton snuck up behind the lancer. Anton grabbed him in a head lock and kicked the back of his knee. The lancer gasped and tried to yell but Anton twisted his head sharply to the right and heard a snap. Anton dragged the body behind the crates and made his way up to the catwalks. He didn't worry about the body because the information Lotus had given him said that Grineer suits have a purge system that destroys their bodies about a minute after they were dead.

Anton hid behind a support beam as the two Grineer had stopped to chat. They were right on the other side of the beam so Anton stayed low and snuck up behind one of the Grineer and drove his sword into his back and into the other Grineer, impaling them both through the chest in one thrust. They both could do nothing but gurgle as they slouched to the floor and stopped twitching. Anton pulled his sword free and moved to edge of the catwalk and looked down to see a Grineer directly below him. Anton stood up on the hand rail and jumped down onto Grineer, shoving his sword downward into his shoulder and into his chest cavity. Anton yanked sword free and the Grineer fell to the floor, twitching as blood sprayed from his shoulder.

The last two Grineer rounded a corner before Anton could hide and tried to open fire but Anton activated his Slash Dash. The anti-gravity modules in the warframe's legs activated and Anton was propelled forward in a streak of blue. He killed one Grineer with a diagonal slash across the chest and the other with a slice through his throat. Then with the room clear, Anton hurried down the next hallway and sped to his objective as fast as he could. He had already wasted too much time with that last room and he had almost let those last two Grineer get the drop on him and it cost him precious energy. He encountered a few patrols but killed them quickly and quietly with his sword. He got to an elevator and hit the button and put away his sword.

_Sloppy, _Anton thought,_ I was making rookie mistakes like I'm fresh out of basic training. Damn cryo-sleep took more out of me then I thought. There can't be that many guys left now though._

"Tenno," Lotus's voice came over the radio, "I'm detecting a large group of life forms nearby."

The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. Anton was now standing in front of a hanger full of Grineer workers and soldiers who all started shouting and began shooting at him.

_Shit, _he thought, _that's a lot of guys._

Anton activated Radial Blind and thrust out his hand. Tiny holes in his hand opened and sprayed out a chemical cloud that reacted instantly with the air causing a blinding flash of light. Tiny little sparks of light followed as small amounts of the chemicals lingered. Anton quickly drew his Lato and fired six quick shots killing three Grineer as he dove behind the elevator door for cover and drew his Braton. The Grineer were staring to recover and started to fire at Anton. Some didn't even bother to take cover and were quickly killed. So now there were only about twenty Grineer left.

"They know you're here now. A patrol is heading your way." Lotus said and ten more Grineer poured in.

_Okay, _Anton thought, _going to be a lot harder and I need a plan._

Anton fired again, killing three Grineer that tried rushing him with saw blades. He looked around the room for something that would give him an edge. On the other side of the room was a terminal that he could use to open the hanger doors. All he needed was ten seconds and he could have the doors open. Then Anton got an idea and broke cover. He ran out into the middle of the crowd of Grineer firing his Braton, drew his sword, and activated Radial Javelin. Anton drove his sword into the floor and his warframe converted all its non-critical energy into ten bolts of energy that flew outward in all directions. Some Grineer were pinned to the walls and others were just disintegrated on contact leaving only six Grineer that Anton easily killed with his Lato.

Anton walked over to the terminal and quickly broke into the ship's network and opened the hanger doors. He only had fifteen minutes before the Triumphant began firing on the ship so he called Lotus.

"Lotus, how many more life signs are on this ship?" He asked

"Besides you there are only ten more life signs on this ship and all of them are Grineer. I also intercepted a transmission to the surface. It looks like the commanding officer is a Grineer named Captain Grell and he's gone to the surface with a large portion of the crew." Lotus explained

"So the Grineer I was fighting all this time were only half the full crew of this ship." Anton said slightly amazed

"Now you see how fast the Grineer spread. Painting a waypoint now." Lotus said

…

**Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Triumphant:**

General Krelick was not having a good day. It had started out well when their journey began when he felt the pride and excitement of being chosen to strike the first blow for the Hierarchy and the Council against these Grineer. And then he heard that alien was being sent along with him. Krelick was annoyed that anyone thought that freak would be any help when he had the finest in Council space.

_These Tenno, _he thought to himself angrily, _are just what the galaxy needed; another species of suit wearing nomads that don't have any use to anyone anymore. They're just like those damn quarian suit rats, except the quarians have better looking suits. And one had the nerve to question my orders, on my ship, in front of my men. Then he runs away in that damn shuttle thing right before we attack._

While Krelick fumed about the Tenno, a cadet approached him and cleared his throat.

"Sir," he said, "There is a transmission coming in for you."

"Patch it through." Krelick said and waited. Then an all too familiar voice came over the com.

"General," the Tenno alien said

"What do you want?" Krelick asked angrily

"I just called to tell you that I opened the hanger doors on the Grineer ship. Your men are clear to board whenever they are ready."

"What! How did you-?!"

"What did you think that I was running away? I infiltrated the ship, confirmed there are no hostages before you blew the ship up and got the doors open if you want to take ship back to Council Space. I even saved a few Grineer for you. Anyways, I'm going to go down to the surface to scout the situation." The alien said and hung up

Krelick was speechless. Not only had the alien infiltrated the ship, but he had completely out done him and his men, and now he was going down to the surface without orders like he was in charge of the mission. Krelick snarled. He was not having a good day.


	5. Landfall

**Tenno Reborn**

**I'm back. Just wanted to let you guys know that I won't be updating as fast as before now that I'm back in school. Also, when there is a fight in the story I'm going to be trying to write as many details as I can but try and use your imagination a little. The Tenno are space ninjas so it's hard to capture every move they make. Probably going to bump this story up to M for violence and blood and all the good stuff. Anyways, enjoy.**

**Chapter 5: Landfall**

Anton was back in his claustrophobic shuttle pod again. He had left the Grineer ship with just enough enemies for Krelick and his men to stay busy while he got the real work done. He didn't like that general or trust him to do his job without getting a bunch of people killed. Anton had overheard Krelick talking with one of his lieutenants about how the galaxy would be better off if all these aliens just accepted that they are all just servants to the turian hierarchy. Anton was disgusted as he heard how all the other species weren't fit to be the voice of order in the galaxy, except the turians. The krogan and elcor were stupid brutes, the salarians were weak little lab geeks, the asari were just lucky they were attractive enough for turians, the volus were too short, the batarians were savages, the drell were freeloaders who got their own world killed, and the quarians were useless suit rats like "these new bunch of freaks, the Tenno" and all the while the lieutenant agreed. Anton had to remember that he needed these ass holes to complete this mission or else he would have skinned them alive for that last crack. He knew then why there were only turians on this ship. Then Anton's angry recollection was interrupted by Lotus's voice.

"You are now in Vesta's atmosphere. Your objective is to kill captain Grell and rescue the hostages sealed inside the Spire. Scout the situation, locate Grell, and eliminate him. The Grineer don't do well without leadership and will be easily confused without Grell. Also, I am detecting that a snow storm has moved into the target area. ETA, fifteen minutes. Good luck Tenno." Lotus explained and cut the line.

Anton took a deep breath and calmed himself. He couldn't get mad in battle because contrary to popular belief, anger doesn't make you fight better. It just makes you fight stupid. Then Anton felt the shuttle slow down and readied himself. The doors slid open and the magnetic locks disengaged. He fell twisting his body in mid air and landed on his feet in the deep snow. The wind of the snow storm howled at speeds that might have killed him if his suit wasn't completely insulated. He crouched low and drew his Braton but he couldn't detect anything. The storm offered no visibility and was interfering with his suit's radar but it was still operating. Luckily, if he was having trouble then so were the Grineer and that gave him the advantage.

Anton followed the waypoint in the direction of the dig site until he picked up six life signs. They were a Grineer patrol team which meant the Grineer must have taken over the base camp and trapped the survivors inside the cave. There was no telling how much food they had so Anton had to move fast. He stayed low as he snuck up on one of the Grineer from behind under the cover of the storm and drew his sword. He grabbed the Grineer with one hand and slit his throat with other and left him bleeding and gurgling in the snow. Homing in on the next signature, Anton moved in front of the Grineer and hid in the snow and waited. When the Grineer was almost on top of him Anton sprung up out of the snow, jumped on the Grineer's shoulders pushing him over backwards. Anton fell with him and drove his sword down into his forehead. The next two Grineer were walking next to each other. One was carrying those buzz saw weapons he had seen on the Grineer ship and the other had a rifle. Anton ran at them from the front and threw his sword at the Grineer hold the rifle. The sword buried its self in the Grineer's chest and he fell backwards. Then Anton ran straight at the Grineer with buzz saw, who swung at him with the blade. Anton ducked, turned around, grabbed the Grineer by the head while he was off balance, and snapped his neck. He wasn't worried about the noise because it would be drowned out by the storm. Anton retrieved his sword and hunted down the last two Grineer and killed them both by a slashing them in the backs.

Anton moved on to the base camp and his radar lit up with red. There where maybe a hundred Grineer in the camp alone and probably dozens more in the cave. So Anton approached quietly and moved through the camp like a ghost as he ducked and weaved through tents and hid behind equipment. Then Anton spotted his target, captain Grell, talking to two guards.

"Did you get the charges set?" Grell asked

"No, it's not my job sir. I was tasked with guarding the prisoners. He was the one supposed to set the charges." Said the first guard as he pointed to the second

"No, I was guard the prisoners and you were supposed to get the explosives." Said the second guard

"I'm going down to the ruins so you get the explosives down there and you guard the prisoners. Now stop bickering and get your jobs done before I skin your worthless hides! We are going to get those fucking doors open even if I have to bash your heads against them to do it!" Grell yield and sent the two guards scurrying.

_So they haven't gotten in to the Spire yet, _Anton thought to himself, _and those explosives could come in handy, but I can't leave the prisoners behind. I need to find the charges and then come back for the prisoners._

Watched the first guard duck into a nearby tent and he caught a glimpse of a chained up salarian so he guessed that was where the prisoners were. He followed the other guard to a tent on the other side of camp and waited until the coast was clear. Then he sneaked to the entrance of the tent and drew his sword. He peaked inside and that there was only the one guard so he quickly moved inside the tent and drove his sword through the back of the Grineer's neck. The Grineer fell to the ground and Anton sheathed his sword behind his back as he looked over the explosives. There were four crates of canisters filled with a green liquid he recognized as detonite charges. Each canister was small enough to be concealed under a person's cloths but powerful enough to blow open a reinforced door. One crate was strong enough to blow open bulkheads so Anton armed one charge from each crate and synched the remote detonators to his omni tool. He then put a charge in each crate, hid the body and slipped out of the tent but took one unarmed charge just in case. He had fifteen minutes; maybe half an hour before someone came looking for the guard he killed so Anton moved low and fast.

Anton came back to the tent he had seen the salarian in and peaked inside. There were two guards; both armed pacing back and forth taunting the prisoners in their language that the prisoners couldn't understand and kicking some of them. Anton drew his sword and sneaked in but the Grineer were too busy or too stupid to turn around during guard duty and Anton drove his sword through one guard's back. The other guard turned around but before he had time to do anything Anton grabbed the back of his head and his chin and broke his neck. Anton retrieved his sword and looked over the five prisoners. Anton recognized all of them from the security team; there were two turians, one with blue face paint and one with green face paint. There were also two asari in commando gear and the salarian that almost beat him in the sparing ring. They were all beaten and bloody and all of them were chained to the floor by some kind of energy cuffs.

"Of all the people in the galaxy that would rescue us," The turian with blue face paint said with a small smile, "it turns out it would be you. What are the odds?"

"Literally one in billions." Anton said as he began cutting through the cuffs with his sword.

"What happened to him?" Anton asked and pointed at the bloody and unconscious salarian.

"He was brought in with us like that." Said the first asari said, "They hit him on the head pretty hard when he tried escaping the cuffs."

Anton finished getting the cuffs of the prisoners and began searching the Grineer for weapons and ammo.

"So who are you guys anyways?" Anton asked

"I'm Shiala and that's Salina." The first asari said pointing to the other asari

"I'm Ruso" said the second turian, the one with green face paint

"I'm Garrus and that is Tedril." Said the turian with the blue face paint as he pointed at the salarian

"I'm Anton, the Council sent me here to rescue you."

Anton took the Grineers' rifles and handed them to Garrus and Salina. He rifles were ugly yellow things with a bunch of black spikes on them. Anton recognized them from the codex on the Grineer that Lotus had given him before the mission. They were Hind rifles; burst fire rifles used by Grineer shock troopers. Anton also picked up a large green heavy pistol called a Kraken and a small grey automatic pistol called a Viper. Anton gave the Viper to Shiala and the Kraken to Ruso. After showing them how to fire and load their new weapons, Anton led the prisoners out of the tent and through the camp. Garrus and Shiala were right behind Anton while Salina and Ruso carried a still unconscious Tedril as they made their way to the cave entrance. They ducked and weaved through the tents, staying just out of sight of the Grineer patrols and workers until they were at the cave mouth. They slipped inside and quickly followed the lit path into the cliff face and made their way downward. They encountered fewer Grineer in the cave and Anton quickly killed the few that they did meet and hid the bodies in the shadows while their bodies were melted down by the purge function. The road to the Spire was much easier to cross because they could easily stay out of sight by moving through a small gap underneath the road. It was uncomfortable and slow going but the Grineer didn't search under there so they didn't have any problems. Then Tedril began to stir.

"Ugh," he groaned, "where are we?"

"Shhh, we're in the cave Tedril. Anton helped us get away but we need to keep quiet." Ruso said as Anton handed him his Lato.

"Here, take this and keep your head down, there are Grineer everywhere along the road." He said and then his omni-tool buzzed. General Krelick's voice came over the radio.

"Tenno," Krelick said, "we finished off the ship and are heading to the surface. What is the situation down there?"

"There are a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty Grineer down here all trying to blow open the doors to the Spire." Anton explained

"Good more enemies to kill. Stay where you are and let the real soldiers handle this." Krelick ordered

"Little late for that."

"What?"

"I've already released the prisoners and set a very large bomb in the enemy's main camp. We're heading towards the Spire to stop them from getting in and killing the survivors. I'm going to set off the bomb in five minutes so I suggest you wait for the big explosion before sending your men in." Anton said and cut the line but could have sworn that he heard Krelick mutter something like 'suit rat'.

"General Krelick, still running in to battle head first." Said Garrus as they continued walking

"You know him?" Anton asked as he set the timer on his omni-tool for five minutes

"I was put under his command after I finished my basic training on Palaven. After a few months of hearing his Turian superiority speeches and almost getting killed by pirates because his risky strategies I requested a transfer to another ship. So they put me on the Voyager and you know the rest." Garrus explained

"So you're still a cadet?" Salina asked a little surprised

"Yep, this is maybe my sixth mission. What about the rest of you guys?" Garrus asked

"I've been with the Citadel fleet for about two years now." said Tedril

"Three years, Citadel fleet." said Ruso

"I've been a commando for ten years now." Salina said

"Fifteen years as a commando." Shiala said

"Wait, why are you two here then?" Garrus asked

"We were sent by Lady Benezia T'Soni to watch over her daughter, Liara T'Soni." Shiala explained

"Does Liara know you're here?" Anton asked but neither of them answered, "Yep, I thought so."

"If she asks, we were sent by her mother with you." Shiala said to Anton

"Fine."

They made their way to end of the road and hid behind a fallen stalactite as they looked over the grounds between them and the Spire's gate. I t was about four hundred yards to the gate with barley any cover and about thirty Grineer along with captain Grell shouting orders. The Grineer had set up about five crates of detonite and were moving more in from the road. Anton muted his helmet so no one could hear him and opened a line to Lotus.

"Are you seeing this Lotus?" Anton asked

"Yes, and from my calculations there isn't enough detonite to blow open the door. It's all most six feet of forma alloy. They would need twice that to get the door open and the walls are too smooth for any sort of climbing gear." Lotus explained

"So if I were to set those charges off right now they wouldn't get through?"

"No."

"That's all I needed to hear." Anton said and cut the line. He then un-muted his helmet and turned towards the others.

"So what's the plan here?" Garrus asked

"Those charges aren't strong enough to open the door. If we set them off they won't have enough explosives to get through and we will take out a lot of them in the process." Anton explained

"But how will we do that?" Salina asked and Anton showed them the detonite charge he picked up from the camp.

"I just need to get this in to that pile over there." Anton explained and pointed to the crates by the gate.

"There are a bunch of those things in the way and almost no cover besides this stalactite." Ruso pointed out while Anton checked his timer.

"Yes but they won't be here for long since their main base is going to blown up in 3…2…1…" Anton counted down and the whole cavern shuddered as the shockwave from the explosion knocked dust and rocks from the ceiling.

…

Krelick had moved his men as close to the camp as they could without being seen. He wasn't on the front line of course, he was a general but he could see the front line from where he was standing. His men were surrounding the camp from a distance in a large semi-circle formation and were waiting for his orders. Krelick himself was waiting for that damn Tenno to blow up the camp like he said he would so he could move in and crush these Grineer like an infestation of pyjacks. He didn't like that alien or how he completely disregarded his orders. He was the one in charge of this mission damn it and he was the one…

_Boom!_

Half the camp went up in flames as a fireball ignited the cliff side and boiled the snow in the air above the camp. The shouts and screams of Grineer echoed over the storm as a large fire spread though the camp and enemy soldiers ran left and right trying to escape the flames and find their enemies. Then Krelick ordered his men to move in and the screams were accompanied by the sounds of rifles and bullets. Krelick decided that he was going to let his anger out through killing a few hundred Grineer.

…

The Grineer by the gates ran towards the road as they received news of the attack on the camp. Grell spurred them on with angry barks and shouts until there were ten left. Grell and his personal guards were all that were left by the gate now. Anton and the others waited ten minutes before Anton gave the word and they opened fire on the guards. Two fell almost immediately as their chests were filled with bullets. The rest of the Grineer opened fire or ducked behind what little cover there was and Shiala, Salina, Garrus, Ruso, and Tedril ducked behind their own cover since they had no shields. Anton however ran straight into the fire and ducked and weaved as he sprinted towards the Grineer firing his Braton the entire time. The others covered Anton from cover as Anton continued his sprint not even stopping to reload but changing clips on the go.

_Three hundred yards, _Anton thought as another guard was brought down, _two hundred fifty, two hundred, one hundred fifty. Shields are running low, one hundred yards, fifty yards. NOW!_

Anton drew his sword, activated his Super Jump, and the anti gravity servos in his legs glowed blue. He jumped fifteen feet into the air, charged his sword with energy, and brought it down into the middle of the middle of the crowd with a crash as metal collided with stone. Two more Grineer were killed on impact and a third was knocked down. Anton rose to his feet and spun around, killing one guard with a slash across the chest. Anton then brought his sword down on the Grineer he had knocked over, stabbing him through the forehead and spun around again. Anton drew his Braton and gunned down three more grineer and was about to take down the last two but their heads exploded accompanied by the sounds of gun fire from behind the giant stalactite. Now it was just Anton and Grell who had just managed to recover from his shock and was fumbling for a gun as Anton retrieved his sword from the fallen Grineer's skull. Grell picked up a pistol and shot at Anton with a rage filled yell but the rounds just bounced off Anton's shields. Anton just let Grell shoot at him until he ran out of bullets and tried to reload with shaking hands. Anton raised his sword over his shoulder and threw it like a javelin at Grell. The sword buried its self in Grell's neck and he fell over gurgling as blood spurted from his throat and slowly stopped twitching.

Anton retrieved his sword and flicked some of the blood from it before sheathing it behind his back. Then Garrus, Shiala, Salina, Ruso, and Tedril walked over.

"What was that jump? Biotics?" Salina asked

"No it's all in the knees." Anton said and smiled under his helmet as everyone laughed. "No, it's really just the suit."

"So what now?" Garrus asked

"Now that leader is dead the Grineer will be scattered and Krelick's surprise attack will be that much more effective." Anton explained, "We however are going to check if the survivors are still surviving inside the Spire. I'm the only one who could open the gate now anyways."

"Didn't an asari open the gate the last time?" Salina asked

"That was a one in a hundred thousand mistake by an AI that hasn't seen maintenance in millennia. He isn't going to make that mistake twice." Anton said as they walked towards the gate. Once inside the Spire they were greeted by a swarm of very angry looking drones that quickly dispersed once the Sentry's drone approached.

"Apologies," Sentry said, "but I thought that you were one of those wretched Grineer."

"It's fine but where are the survivors?" Anton asked

"They are in the main chamber. Now if you'll follow me please." Sentry said and floated down the hall

The door to the chamber opened and Anton looked over the crowd of people. Turians, salarians and asari were huddled together in the main room under the light of the large glowing sphere that was Sentry's brain hanging from the ceiling. They all looked scared and thin like they had been eating little but not enough for days. They looked at Anton with so much a hope that it all most burned under their stares despite his armor

"These are the survivors that I could not fit in the lower levels. This complex is equipped with living quarters and food and water supplies but for maintenance crews not a crew of hundreds. Also I had no rations the Turian crew members could eat." Explained with what might have been regret in his voice.

"You did fine Sentry now take me to Careena and Liara. We need to speak with them."

…

They descended on the hidden elevator passed the reactor rooms and stopped. Another hidden door opened into a white room that seemed to be crew quarters for when the tower was still functioning fully. The halls were the same design as the rest of the tower with shining metal and elaborate designs of the floors, ceilings, and walls. They went down a short hallway and went past sitting rooms full of white tables and chairs. Each room they passed was filled with more refugees and survivors and each refugee looked a little more desperate. They finally came to another sitting room where they found Careena and Liara.

"Thank the Goddess you got through those things out there." Careena said. She and Liara both looked as hungry as the other survivors.

"What happened here?" Anton asked, "We got here in just a few hours but people here look like they've been starving for weeks."

"That's because they have. We were attacked maybe two weeks ago but managed to get a message through yesterday." Liara explained

"Well now we have a small army attacking the Grineer, the leader of this raid is dead, and we blew up half their camp on the way in here." Anton said

"We?" Liara said confused and looked over Anton's shoulder to where the others were standing. "Wait! Garrus, Tedril, and Ruso, we thought you were dead! And Shiala and Salina why are you two here!?"

"Um, we were sent by your mother when the communications went dark." Salina said a little less believable then she could have said.

"Yeah and we were just tied up and beaten for a couple weeks. No big deal really." Said Garrus and then Anton's omni-tool buzzed and Krelick's voice came over the radio.

"Tenno, where in spirits name are you, we finished with those Grineer and we are moving to the Spire." Krelick demanded

"I'm all ready at the Spire, General Krelick and I'm keeping about four hundred hungry survivors company so if you could bring some food from the ship before these people keel, over that would be great." Anton said

"You… I… We wha- aaggghh." Krelick growled and hung up

"That guy is a prick." Anton thought out loud.

…

It was about half an hour before Krelick got to the Spire and another half hour before the emergency nations could be brought from the Triumphant. In that time Anton explained to Careena, Liara, Garrus, and the others what had happened since the Grineer attacked the dig site. He explained about the Council declaring war, about who the Grineer are, and how he was contacted by his people. He left out the part about the Lotus being the one who contacted him but he also explained how he wasn't going back to the Citadel with them but back to his home system where his people were gathering. They all gathered outside the cave entrance where Krelick's men were cleaning up the bodies in the campsite and where now standing on a snow covered hill. The storm had died down and Tedril and Ruso had gone off to help with the refugees leaving Careena, Liara, Shiala, Salina, Anton and Garrus. Anton's ship came in and hovered upright at the top of the hill and opened its doors waiting for Anton.

"Well, might not see you guys for awhile." Anton said

"Thank you for saving our lives, Anton" Liara said with a smile and the others nodded in agreement.

"I'm a Tenno, it's what we do but you're welcome." Said Anton and climbed into is ship. The magnetic clamps locked his limbs into place and before the doors slid shut he said, "Live long and hunt well." The shuttle rose into the air and took off.

**So there's chapter 5 and you guys are probably wondering why I made Garrus a cadet but just trust me its part of the story later.**


	6. Paradise Lost

**Tenno Reborn**

**Sorry if this is coming to you guys a bit late but I've been fighting off homework and writer's block to get this chapter off the ground. Also changing the rating to M just to be safe with all the violence. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 6: Paradise Lost**

Anton awoke after eight hours in the shuttle and sat up in his chair. The person shaped engraving on the bottom of the shuttle was for quick pickups and drop offs and short distance flights but the shuttle was hollow inside with space for a pilots chair and cockpit for longer flights between star systems. Anton decided to watch as his home system came into view through the cameras and sensors on the ships hold. He watched each planet go by as he sped towards his destination. Normally, ships wanting to move between planets would have to move along the Solar Rails, a network of space stations and planet side compounds that cross the entire solar system but the stealth shuttle could bypass the Solar Rails for special missions. Anton watched as the ship passed mars and sped by Earth. The cradle of the Orokin Empire was sickening shade of green as clouds of pollution and toxic gas filled the atmosphere. Anton felt sadness for the corpse of a planet that was once the center of everything he knew. He couldn't remember much of what the planet was like before but he knew it deserved better than this.

Anton watched as the small rocky planet of Mercury came into view. Lotus had told Anton that this was the last home of the Orokin Towers and the only planet not completely under control of the Grineer or the Corpus the merciless greedy traders that ruled the Solar Rails and would sooner dissect you for profit or fun than say hello. The shuttle shock slightly as it locked the dimensional coordinates of the tower and slowly slid into the pocket dimension. The Orokin were masters of inter dimensional travel so each Orokin Tower was built inside a small empty alternate universe that is simply referred to as the Void. The empty tranquil blackness of space gave way to the blinding white and endless chaos of the Void and the ship approached the massive spire like space station that was an Orokin Tower.

The shuttle docked in an open hanger and Anton opened the cockpit and stepped out as Lotus's voice came over the radio.

"Welcome home Tenno." She said

"Where is everybody? This is one of the last Orokin Towers why aren't there more Tenno?" Anton asked as he walked down the empty halls towards the place Lotus had told him to go.

"There are few Tenno currently active and of those few most are on missions right now." Lotus explained

"Are there really so few us left?"

"Unfortunately, but more Tenno are brought out of cryo each day."

"What of the Council and the Citadel Fleet?" Anton asked

"I have selected representatives to coordinate our efforts with the Council's but there are no major developments and we are both still preparing for all out war with the Grineer and the Corpus." Lotus explained

"What of the Tenno High Council or the clan warlords? Where are they during all of this?"

"The High Council members are nowhere to be found and the great clans are disbanded. Now there are so few Tenno that the largest standing clans are only fledgling Shadow class clans."

"You said the Council was preparing for the Corpus but the Council has no quarrel with them."

"We will deal with the Corpus ourselves when the time comes but the Grineer are our main concern."

"Very well but why am I here and not in the field?"

"You are here because you have passed your Initiate Trials and I am assigning you to a team." Lotus explained

"I passed the Initiate Trials over fifty thousand years ago. What do they have to do with the current situation?" Anton asked

"Of the few Tenno left, it was put to a vote that all Tenno will be stripped of rank in this new age and prove themselves again. The vote was in favor of removing all rank." Lotus said

"I see," Anton said and pondered for a moment, "yes, I like it. The Tenno Order will be rebuilt from the ground up and adapted to this new galaxy. We will be made stronger than before."

"Exactly." Said Lotus and cut the line

…

Anton came to a white circular room with a holographic terminal in the center of it. Next to the terminal stood a female Tenno dressed in what Anton recognized as a Mag warframe. The dark blue warframe looked sleek and smooth in texture except the arms which had a silver outline that spiraled around her arm from her brown shoulder plates to her gauntlets. Her helmet was smooth and round and looked to be made mostly of glass. On the front of the helmet where her mouth would be there were two small nodes much like on the breathing masks of Old Earth and the helmet glowed slightly with a soft blue light (AN: If you're having trouble imagining the warframes as I describe them, then look them up. They are going to look exactly like their defaults in the game.) On her back was a Latron semi automatic rifle and a Cronus sword and on her hip she wore a Lato pistol. She looked away from the terminal and up at Anton.

"Greetings brother," she said politely with a small bow. Her voice was gentle and famine but had a distinct metal ring to it because of her helmet. "It is good to see another of the Order after so long. My name is Tara Kalduoni."

"The same to you Tara," Anton said and returned the bow, "My name is Anton Zarleck."

"Do you know why we are here Anton? The Lotus wouldn't tell me anything." Tara said

"What do you know of Lotus?" Anton asked

"Nothing. All I know is that she is the one who unlocked my cryo-pod, saved me from a Grineer scouting patrol, and sent the ship that brought me here and told me about the Grineer. What about you?"

"It is a long story." Anton said

"Well Lotus said to wait here till she contacts us so we have time." Said Tara

"Then I should start at the beginning. The first thing I remember is my pod opening…"

…

"So you've only been wake a few weeks and you've met a galaxy full of new aliens, led an assault on a Grineer base, and killed a Grineer captain. You work fast." Tara said with a small amount of awe in her voice

"You could say that again." Said a voice behind them. They both whirled around and drew their pistols.

Leaning against the door way was a male Tenno wearing a Loki warframe. The warframe was grey and had the same organic appearance that all warframes shared but the only difference about the Loki warframe was the hammerhead rods coming out of the sides of the helmet. On his back was a Barton Vandal and on his hips were two Vastros and two Fang Daggers. The Loki just laughed as Anton and Tara aimed their weapons at him.

"Relax." The Tenno said holding up his hands in mock surrender, Anton and Tara put away their guns.

"Who are you?" Anton asked

"My name is Trenten Armora, at your service." He said with a sweep of his arms and an over exaggerated bow. His deep metallic voice was over flowing with cockiness and Anton could almost feel the smug grin on his face behind the mask.

"Were you called here by Lotus too?" Tara asked

"Yes, our mysterious lady friend opened my pod and rescued me from a Corpus galleon before I could be dissected." Trenten said

"Well do you know if our 'mysterious lady friend' is going to show up anytime soon?" Anton asked while making air quotes. Just then the terminal flickered to life and Lotus's voice came over the speakers.

"I am glad you three have made it. We have much to discuss." Lotus said

"Then let us start discussing." Said Trenten as he walked forward and stood beside Anton.

"I have called you all here to discuss how we are going to begin the war to take back the Origin System. We have few Tenno active right now so the majority of Tenno operatives are focusing on search and rescue operations to build our numbers for the upcoming war. You three however are going to be focusing on striking back at the Grineer." Lotus explained

"Why us three?" Anton asked

"I have already explained how all Tenno have been stripped of any former rank they might have had before the cryo sleep took their memories. Well, you three are one of the few that have proven your selves through combat a combat so far. Tara defeated five Grineer patrols in less than an hour, Trenten destroyed an entire Corpus Galleon by sabotaging their power core, and Anton fought through an entire regiment of Grineer, killed their captain and made first contact with our newest allies. You have more than proven that you are ready for something greater then search and rescue." Lotus said

"So we are Initiates once more?" Trenten asked

"Yes you are all Initiates again except Anton. I have decided that in light of everything that has happened that you will be given the rank of Gold Initiate, Anton."

"You honor me Lotus," Anton said with a bow, "but what about my Mastery Trials? I must have some form of test before I can move up in rank."

"As I said, you more than earned the title but if you want to keep to tradition then I can devise some kind of tests here in the tower for you."

"Does that offer extend to us as well?" Tara asked gesturing to herself and Trenten

"Of course, I will prepare your tests as well. Now I am sending you directions to your new quarters. You may get some rest as there are no assignments yet and the Tests will not be ready for a few hours." Lotus said and cut transmission

"I think I will take up the lady's offer for some rest." Said Trenton and turned to Tara and Anton, "Good night and I look forward to working with you two." Then he turned towards the door and left. Tara and Anton walked into the hall

"I think I will get some sleep too. Good night Anton." Tara said

"Good night Tara." Anton said and they both turned and left.

…

Anton did not go to sleep but instead decided to search the tower and see if any other Tenno were here. He wondered the empty halls for what felt like hours and all he found were empty rooms. He finally came to a large obstacle course. Only a Tenno could navigate the course as it required them to overcome dangers like twenty foot gaps, wall running, and even a laser field, all suspended over a large black pit by metal pillars. The pit had a Gravity Net at the bottom if anyone ever did fall and it wasn't actually that deep but the room was lit so that you couldn't see the bottom.

Anton decided to look up the best time. The record was blank so Anton set up a round on the course and walked over to the starting ring. Anton crouched into a running position and the clock counted down. It hit zero and Anton took off down the track towards the first obstacle, a metal wall with a slot missing from the bottom just big enough for a person. Anton ran full speed towards the wall and at the last second, he dropped down on his side and slid with his feet out in front of him right under the wall. He got his feet back under him and without losing any momentum, he kept running. He turned a corner towards a stretch of track with a grey grid pattern on the floor. As Anton got close, short pillars about twice Anton's height began jutting out of the floor trying to block his path. Anton ducked and weaved between the pillars as they came out of the floor and kept running. He then ran towards a tower with a platform hanging above him and a wall that ran parallel to the track over a thirty foot gap. On the other side of the gap, the wall turned ninety degrees into the track. Anton ran across the first wall and jumped onto the second wall and pushed off. Anton reached out and grabbed the ledge of the platform above him and pulled himself up. He ran towards the wall on the platform and ran up and pushed off again and grabbed the ledge on top of the tower and pulled himself up. He ran towards the opposite ledge and without hesitation, pushed of the ledge and jumped off the tower, over another gap. Anton landed with a roll and came to ten pillars that slid past each other.

Anton rushed forward, not even thinking, just acting on instincts and jumped from pillar to pillar with perfect timing. He reached the other side and ran forward towards a large flat section with a grid pattern on the floor. As Anton began running on the grid sections began dropping away. Anton jumped from one square to the next and ran towards a hallway section with twelve horizontal lasers moving up and down at different speeds. The lasers were harmless and would only give a nasty shock but Anton still jumped, lunged, and slid perfectly avoiding each laser and continued his marathon sprint. Anton turned right and jumped over a small gap then turned left and left again up a ramp. At the top of the ramp Anton leaped over one final jump and slid as he landed crossing the finish line. Anton took deep breaths and looked at his time on the glowing blue terminal. He had finished in 1 minute and 59.45 seconds. Anton smiled under his helmet but then turned around and saw Trenten standing in the door way applauding in a slow sarcastic way.

"Well done my over achieving friend." He said

"I thought you were going to bed." Anton said

"We've been sleeping for the last 50,000 years. I don't think I could ever go back to sleep."

"Fair enough."

"So you up for a race? I bet I can shave a few seconds off that record off yours." Trenten said

"Alright you arrogant punk, I've wanted to take you down a few notches since we met." Anton said but Trenton just chuckled as he reset the track and they both stood at the starting line. They both crouched in a running position and waited for the buzzer. The countdown hit zero and they both took off down the track.

…

Anton and Trenten both crossed the finish line in another tie. They both paused to catch their breath until Trenten broke the silence.

"So that's five ties out of five races."

"Six and we've only been here for about twenty minutes." Anton corrected and they both laughed.

"Well we're going to have to change that now won't we?" Trenten said

"What are you two doing?" asked a voice to their right. They turned to see Tara in the door way.

"We could ask you the same thing, my dear. Didn't you go to sleep half an hour ago?" Trenten asked

"Well…"

"Let me guess," Anton said, "you tossed and turned for a while before you reanalyzed that you couldn't spend another moment in those pod beds after centuries in cryo."

"Something like that." Tara said a little sheepishly

"Well come on in, we can make it a threesome." Trenten said and laughed as Anton smacked him in the back of the head. Tara giggled a little bit, crossed her arms, and said

"I'm not much of a racer but there is a dueling ring down the hall that I could wipe the floor with you two."

"Oh you're so on." Anton said with a smile as the three of them walked to the dueling ring

"So is this one on one or a free for all and what weapons are we allowed?" Anton asked

"Let's start with one on ones and see if we get to a free for all." Tara said, "And let's keep it melee and suit powers."

They walked into a large square room with four pillars supporting the roof. In between the pillars on the left and the right were two fences bearing the lotus insignia and directly in front of them was a short staircase leading down to the sparing floor. In the middle of the floor was a large circle with another lotus insignia on it. They decided that Anton would duel Tara first and they walked down the stairs and sat on their knees facing each other in the middle of the floor.

"Contestants," said a mechanical voice, "please set the parameters for this duel."

"One on one. Only melee weapons and warframe powers. One round." Tara said

"Acknowledged." Said the voice and a blue force field went up around the dueling floor. The field not only kept them in the ring but also surrounded their blades and bullets with a small force field. These fields made the blades and bullets give a nasty shock but not actually deal damage.

The buzzer sounded and Tara and Anton stood with their swords drawn. They stared at each other waiting for the first move. Anton knew the Mag warframe had better shields but less armor and Tara couldn't use her Bullet Attractor ability because they weren't using guns. She also couldn't use her Crush ability because they weren't trying to kill each other. They lunged at the same time and clashed swords and hacked at each other each testing the other's skill with a blade. They backed away and waited for the next move. This time Tara moved almost instantly and activated her Pull ability. Anton was flung through the air towards Tara who had her sword ready but he got within striking range he activated Radial Blind and stretched his hand out and released the chemicals from his gauntlet. The bright flash blinded Tara momentarily and Anton brought his sword down and slashed across the chest, taking out her shields, and knocking her to the ground. Anton rushed forward for a killing blow but Tara rolled back on to her shoulders and pushed of the ground jumping back to her feet and blocked Anton's attack. Tara pushed him back and activated her Shield Polarizer ability and her shields came back, burning with power.

Anton rushed forward and locked swords with Tara again. Tara pushed back again and side stepped as Anton slashed at her head. Tara thrust her sword forward but Anton blocked and jumped back. Anton and Tara clashed again and again with their swords, neither one giving in. Anton slashed at Tara's head again but she ducked and swept Anton's legs out from under him. Anton's sword slipped from his grasp and slid across the ring. Tara brought her sword down straight towards Anton's throat but stopped before her sword connected.

"Give up Anton?" Tara asked but Anton knocked her sword away from his throat, grabbed her wrist that was holding the sword and swept her legs. Anton tore the sword from her hands and jumped up. Anton didn't waste time and stabbed the sword down into Tara's chest where her heart would be. The sword would have skewered her if it wasn't for the safety measures. Tara gasped as her suit's neural implants sent a jolt of pain through her chest simulating a stab wound.

A buzzer sounded, indicating that the match was over and Anton pulled Tara to her feet.

"Sorry about that," Anton said and handed Tara her sword, "but you shouldn't offer your opponent any openings. Not even in sparing."

"It's all right, it was a good match and I'll have to remember that." Said Tara. Anton retrieved his sword and they walked off the floor, over to Trenten who was watching with interest.

"My, my, Anton," he said, "that was remarkably cold for a sparring match."

"So you enjoyed it then?" asked Tara

"Heh, well enough." Trenten said with a smirk in his voice

"Well I'm done for today. Going to see if there's food in the cafeteria I saw around the corner. Enjoy killing each other." Anton said and walked out the door.

…

Anton sat down at the clean white table and took off his helmet. He was eating some kind of nutrient rations which included a slab of unidentifiable meat, a type of protein bar, and some kind of caesural thing. Despite the fact that it was made on a space station, might be centuries old and came out of some automated food machine, it tasted really good and Anton could trust it to be healthy. Tenno couldn't afford to be anything but peak physical condition, especially with the cybernetic implants and gene alterations so healthy, tasty cafeteria food was a must.

Anton was half way done with his meal when Tara and Trenten walked in and joined him.

"Are you two finally done? You were in that dueling room for an hour." Anon said

"Done and hungry." Tara said "So how does the food taste?"

"Like the best thing I've had in centuries." Anton said with a smile. Tara and Trenten walked away and came back with trays of the same food Anton had. Tara sat next to Anton and Trenten sat across the table from them. They both took off their helmets and began eating. Tara had pale skin with blonde hair cut short to fit in her helmet. She looked remarkably ordinary except for her eyes which were a bright violet color. Trenten had long black hair tied into a ponytail that just barley reached his shoulders and bright green eyes. His skin was a rich brown color and you could just barely see the ghost of a self-satisfied smirk on his face. They all ate in silence, enjoying the food until Trenten got up to got up to get a drink and came back with three bottles and a big smile.

"Look what I found." Trenten said waving the bottles around

"What is that?" asked Tara

"White Cat," Trenten said smiling, "the official drink of the Tenno Order."

"Nice." Tara and Anton said at same time and took a bottle each. They all drank and ate and talked like they were friends for years despite just meeting a few hours ago. They didn't have to worry about getting drunk since their cybernetic implants burned off all but the strongest alcohol out of their bodies and White Cat was strong but not that strong.

"So what do you think our tests will be?" Tara asked

"Who knows, the test is different for every Tenno." Anton said

"I have one memory of before the cryo sleep, that one poor bastard pissed off a clan leader and had to balance on a ten foot pole for three days as his test. He pissed of that clan leader even more when he actually passed the test." Trenten said and they all laughed

"I think I remember that, or I was the poor bastard balancing on the pole." Anton said and they all laughed even more. "Yep we had a lot before the Sentient Wars." They all became slightly more serious as they recollected over what few fragments of memories they had. Then Tara raised her bottle.

"Cheers to the Old Age and cheers to this New Age." She said and they all clinked bottles in agreement. Finally they finished off two more bottles each and all went to bed for real this time.

…

**And scene! Not much action in this chapter but I wanted to go into what I thought Tenno society was like off the battlefield and introduce my two new OC's Trenten Armora and Tara Kalduoni. Don't forget to like, follow, and review and as always I'm open to ideas for the story. Also, I've been thinking about it and I think I'm going to be changing the rating back, but not sure yet.**


	7. Trials

**Tenno Reborn**

**Alright, I'm back! Let's keep this short. Chapter 7 is up, sorry if it's coming later than I expected, I'm trying to give myself deadlines for these chapters but it always gets away from me and I've was working on my other fanfic. Also, the release of Batman: Arkham Origins and Assassin's Creed 4 didn't help my productivity. Anyways, enjoy!**

**Chapter 7: Trials**

A loud buzzing shook Anton from his sleep. He looked down at his wrist and saw the alarm on his omni-tool had gone off so he tapped a few commands in and shut it off. He had set that alarm to wake him at the time when Lotus said his Mastery Tests would be done so he opened the door to the pod he was sleeping in, got out and stretched. Tenno slept in pods almost exactly like the cryo pods except these pods had no cryo sleep functions. These pods only purpose was to be like beds but smaller and easier to store. The sleep pods could play relaxing music, had climate controls, had a small vid screen, and could close its outer doors to block out the light. The sleep pods were stored upright in rows in a barracks room where all the Tenno in the tower would sleep but they could be set to lie horizontal. There was usually one barracks per tower and this one could hold maybe a hundred to a hundred and fifty Tenno. Anton opened the compartment in the back of the pod and put on his helmet and weapons. Tenno slept in their armor most of the time since it was so complicated to take the suit off. Anton walked down the rows and pass Trenten and Tara who were still sleeping in their assigned pods. It wasn't uncommon for men and women to be assigned to the same barracks.

Anton walked down the halls and came to a small white room with an elevator pad. Anton took the elevator up to a larger round, white room. It was about the same size as the dueling ring but there weren't any fences or barriers or anything. The walls were completely blank and Lotus's voice came over some sort of hidden speaker system.

"Welcome Anton," she said, "for this first test we will start with something simple." Five holographic images of Grineer with buzz saws appeared. "Even the lowest Initiates must master a blade. Kill these targets with only your sword."

The Grineer lunged at Anton, who drew his sword, parried the saw, and drove his sword into the Grineer's gut. Anton pulled the sword free and the hologram faded and the other four Grineer rushed him all at once. Anton blocked the first blow and pushed the first Grineer back and spun around slicing the arm of the second hologram trying to get behind him. The Grineer hologram screamed in simulated pain but Anton quickly took his head off and spun again ducking a blow from the third hologram. Anton swung upwards slicing across the Grineer's chest and jumped back as the first Grineer swung at his head again. Anton blocked another swing and jumped back again as the fourth Grineer came at him from the right. Anton blocked, parried, and dodged as the two Grineer pushed him back. Then, Anton parried a blow from the first Grineer, throw him off balance and drove his sword through the Grineer's forehead. Anton left the sword in the Grineer's head and grabbed the other Grineer by the wrist as he tried to swing at his head. Anton head butted the Grineer and grabbed him by the chin and the back of the head and twisted. The Grineer's neck snapped and he went limp and the hologram faded.

Anton retrieved his sword and Lotus's voice came over the speaker's again.

"Second wave." she said and five more Grineer holograms appeared but these one held machetes with glowing blades.

Anton barely heard her. He was thinking of these things, the Grineer, the Corpus, the war, and why he had to fight them in the first place. It was what had kept him up at night and every night since he was brought out of cryo. The thoughts grated his mind until he came to one conclusion.

It was because he had failed. It was because the Tenno had failed. They were supposed to protect the Orogin system and they were pushed back in the war. They were forced into hiding, into exile from their home and now everything they had protected was gone. His home was toxic waste land, his people were scattered or dead, and even his memories were taken from him by the cryo sleep.

Anger flared in Anton's mind and he gripped his sword tighter slicing a Grineer in half as it tried rushing him. He swung again and killed a second Grineer and blocked a swing from a third Grineer. The Grineer pushed down on him with its blade and began pushing Anton back. Anton's boots made a scraping sound against the floor as the Grineer kept pushing him until another Grineer came at him from behind and tried to stab him. Anton rolled to the side and the Grineer that was pushing him stumbled forward and collided with the Grineer who was trying to stab him. When they hit each other the second Grineer accidentally stabbed his companion and tried to push him off but Anton had managed to get behind him and stabbed him through the back. Then the final Grineer tried to charge at Anton but Anton just waited in a ready stance and at the last second ducked low, sweeping the Grineer's legs. The Grineer fell forward on its stomach and Anton brought his sword down, stabbing the Grineer through the back of its neck.

"Well done," Lotus said, "but Tenno are not just masters of blades. For your next trial, defeat the enemy with only your guns."

Another five Grineer holo-grams appeared, these ones were Elite Lancers and were armed with Hind assault rifles. The room began to shift and instead of an empty white room, pillars and low panels rose out of the ground. Anton grabbed his Lato and ducked behind one of the pillars as the Grineer started firing. He peeked out for a second to see where the Grineer were and ducked down again.

_'Three on the left, one on the right, can't see the last one so he must have been in cover.'_ Anton quickly thought,_ 'To exposed, thirty feet to best cover position All four are armed with Hind assault rifles and they all started firing at the same time, best chance to attack is when they stop to reload which is right,' _the gun fire stopped, _'NOW!'_

The entire world seemed to slow down as Anton dashed sideways out of cover running for the next pillar while firing his Lato at the Grineer who scrambled for any kind of cover. The first Grineer dropped as three bullets tore into his chest and shredded his shields, the second staggered and fell as one bullet landed in his shoulder and another in his neck, the third actually managed to duck behind one of the low walls but the fourth Grineer died instantly when a bullet struck between his eyes. Anton rolled behind the pillar, reloaded his Lato, pulled out his Braton and waited. An eerie silence filled the room as both sides waited for the next move. Anton kept calm even as he panted and adrenalin pumped through his veins until he heard something move.

Acting on instinct, Anton stepped out of cover, brought up his rifle, and fired at the Grineer he had missed before. The Grineer fell under the spray of bullets but something was wrong. Then he caught something in his peripheral vision and dropped to the floor at the last second. Bullets slammed into the exact spot where his head had been and Anton fired, killing the last Grineer who had somehow managed to flank him.

"Second wave." Lotus said

"Wait!"

"Is something wrong?"

"I just need a minute to prepare."

"As you wish."

Anton stood and reloaded his rifle as his thoughts wandered again. The anger he felt was still there but it seemed like it was dulled. Like a knife that was once sharp but now blunted through use. The battle had brought him clarity. He stood there inspecting his weapons and just thought. He thought about the war, the Corpus, and the Grineer and realized that the Tenno had not protected the Origin system when it needed them. But they sure as hell would take it back and make sure that no one ever threatened their home or their people ever again. Anton took a deep breath.

"I'm ready." he said

"Second wave." Lotus responded

Ten more Grineer appeared and Anton took cover again. He drew his Lato and killed two Grineer with head shots, took out his Braton and gunned down another. Anton pushed forward to a low wall and killed another two Grineer. The rest were easy to deal with and soon Anton was alone in the big, white room again.

"Well done," Lotus said, "now for your final trial. Prove your mastery of the tools at your disposal. Eliminate all threats using your blade, guns, and warframe."

Again, a squad of ten Grineer appeared and Anton took cover. These ones were more diverse. Some were Lancers, armed with Grakata rifles, a few were Troopers armed with shotguns. There were also Flameblades holding those energy machetes and Shield Lancers that carried Viper pistols in one hand and large metal riot shields in the other.

Immediately the Flameblades charged to where Anton had taken cover. The first one was shot down by Anton's Braton and the other two were easily slain by his blade. Anton snapped back against one of the pillars, drew his Lato and aimed at the two Shield Lancers. Anton fired but the bullets bounced of the large riot shields and provoked the Grineer to shoot back so he aimed lower and shot them both in the leg. They stumbled, dropping their shields, and Anton finished them of with to shots to their heads. Anton was about to move to another cover when he heard something hit the floor next to him. He looked down and saw a grenade rolling towards him and jumped to the side. The grenade exploded spraying the area with shrapnel but Anton was out of range. However, Anton was now standing in the open with angry Grineer shooting at him. He rolled again but one of the Grineer had manged to catch him with a bullet in the shoulder. His shields easily soaked up the impact and the rounds were non lethal but Anton cursed himself anyways for being so slow.

Anton crouched against one of the low walls as the Grineer kept him pinned with their constant fire. He peaked out for a second to see were the shots were coming from and ducked down again.

_'Five more left, about eighty feet way,'_ Anton thought to himself as he broke down the fight, _'to far way for any of my warframe abilities and I can't aim with them shooting like that. I need to get closer but there's no opening. I have to distract them but there's nothing. Unless...'_

Anton jumped over the wall out of cover firing his Lato. Rounds hammered his shields as he ran forward into the hail of enemy fire. Then when he was sure that the five Grineer were watching he stuck out his hand and activated Radial Blind. The Grineer stumbled, clutching their eyes as the blinding flash filled the room and Anton sprinted foreward using all of his emergency stamina implants to help him. He drew his Braton and killed two of the blinded Lancers but the remaining three Grineer began firing again as their sight returned. Anton activated Super Jump and launched into the air avoiding the enemy fire. He fired his Braton in mid-air, killing the final Lancer and hitting the two Troopers. At the peak of his jump, Anton drew his Skana and slammed it down into the floor, sending out a shock wave of energy. The Troopers were knocked back a bit but their heavier armor absorbed the damage.

The Troopers raised their shotguns and Anton rushed forward, stabbing the first Trooper through the shoulder. Anton left the sword berried in the Troopers shoulder and grabbed its shoot gun from its hands, spun around, and blew the other Trooper's head off. He then dropped the gun and grabbed his sword, still wedged into the Grineer's shoulder, yanked it free and sliced the Trooper's neck open.

"Second wave." Lotus spoke and Anton took cover yet again and reloaded.

This time a group of fifteen Grineer appeared. There were three Bombards armed with Ogris Rocket Launchers, another two Troopers, three more Shield Lancers, another four Sawmen, two Heavy Gunners armed with Gorgon rifles, and a Scorch armed with a Ignis flame thrower. The Bombards unleashed a volley of rockets at Anton's position forcing him to roll out of cover to avoid the blast. Anton broke into a sprint for the next cover as the Heavy Gunners unleashed a massive spray of their heavy ammunition. Anton took cover against another pillar as the Heavy Gunners kept up their volley until they finally had to reload. Anton peaked out to see that the Sawmen were trying to rush him with their usual stupidity. Anton raised his Braton and began gunning them down but behind them he saw that the Troopers and the Scorch had stacked up behind the Shield Lancers and were moving closer.

With the Sawmen dead Anton reloaded but the Bombards and Heavy Gunners had reloaded and were getting ready to fire. Anton raised his gun again and shot one of the Bombards in the head. The bombard dropped, hitting the floor which set off the off its launcher. The rocket flew off wildly to the right and exploded, killing one Bombard and sending the other Bombard and Heavy Gunners flying. Then one of the Troopers tried throwing a grenade at him but Anton lunged for the grenade, caught it and threw it right behind the Shield Lancers. The group scattered as the grenade exploded, killing two of the Shield Lancers. Anton shot down the final Shield Lancer and moved up to get a better angle on the Grineer.

The Heavy Gunners and the last Bombard had recovered and were again pinning Anton under a volley of bullets and rockets while the Troopers and the Scorch had taken cover on the front line about fifty yards in front of Anton. Anton activated Radial Blind and raised his hand. The gauntlet flashed with another flare of bright light and Anton drew his Lato as he jumped the small wall he was using as cover. One Trooper fired blindly with his shot gun as he got closer and Anton grabbed the second Trooper, who was still stumbling from the flash. Anton pulled the blinded Trooper in front of him as the other Trooper fired his shot gun wildly. Shot gun slugs ripped open the first Trooper and he flopped to the floor as a bullet from Anton's Lato buried itself in the other Trooper's neck.

The Trooper sunk to the ground like his companion but then Anton heard a whooshing sound to his right. He jumped backwards and rolled out of the way as a stream of fire sprayed over the spot he had just been standing. The Grineer Scorch had somehow sneaked up on him while he was dealing with the Troopers and the Heavy Gunners and the Bombard were moving up behind him. The Scorch readied his flame thrower but Anton rolled to the side and ran towards the Scorch. The Scorch turned his flame thrower in a broad sweep trying to fry Anton but he moved behind the Scorch. The Scorch spun the flame thrower around still spraying fire but Anton ducked and the flames sailed over his head and engulfed one of the Heavy Gunners who had gotten too close. Anton sprung up knocking the flame thrower upwards and slashing the Scorch open straight up the middle with a swing of his Skana. Anton then turned and began runing towards the last Heavy Gunner and the Bombard.

The Bombard fired his launcher but Anton dropped into a slide and the rocket sailed over his head. Anton quickly jumped up, activated Slash Dash, and was flung forward in a streak of blue. He decapitated the Heavy Gunner before it could fire a single bullet and sliced the Bombard in two with a diagonal slice from hip to shoulder. The room suddenly fell quiet as Anton was left as the literal last man standing.

"This is unexpected." Lotus said

"What is?"

"That you won."

"Your confidence in me is very flattering. Isn't winning the purpose of this trial"

"You misunderstand."

"And how is that?"

"The objective wasn't to win but to survive."

"All seems the same thing to me."

"Regardless, you have passed the trials and earned your new rank as a Gold Initiate. Congratulations, Tenno."

"Thank you." Anton bowed slightly even though he couldn't see Lotus

"If you wish to up hold another tradition I have the facilities to give you the ceremonial tattoos that these trails entail."

"So that's what those are?" Anton said gesturing to the strange patterns painted on the right shoulder of his warframe and the matching tattoos underneath.

"Yes, Operatives Trenten and Tara had similar marks on their shoulders too but they had decided to repaint their warframes to cover them. Would you like new tattoos and markings as well?"

"Might as well."

"Report to this room when you are ready." Lotus said and highlighted a small room on the lower half of the Tower on his map

"Very well." Anton turned to leave but stopped, "Lotus."

"Yes?"

"Who are you?" Anton asked but there was silence

"An ally of the Tenno." she said

"No, I mean who are you? Are you an alien or a Tenno or a machine?"

"It is difficult to explain."

"Try." Anton said with authority in his voice

"Very well," she said, "I am an artificial intelligence created by the Orokin to preserve order in the Origin System and protect the knowledge of the Orokin and the Tenno."

"Wait you were created to preserve order?" Anton asked, "Where were you during the fall of the Orokin or the fifty thousand years the Tenno slept?"

"I was damaged at one point during the war between the Orokin and the Sentients. I do not know what happened, perhaps a virus, but I had to stop all external operations to repair my neural pathways. For some reason or another I was never repaired by the Orokin so I had to rebuild my systems from scratch. This operation took almost twenty thousand years before I had cleared all corrupt data."

"It took you twenty thousand years to fix yourself!?"

"At the time I was infected with this virus I was part of a vast network of information that connected the entire empire. What ever happened, it damaged my very core and the result was massive amounts of data was corrupted and do to my connection to the network, more and more data was being corrupted. To fix this I sealed my self away inside my core along with most of the corrupt data and cut all connections to my network. The damage was almost enough to destroy me but after fighting the virus I finally managed to destroy the last of the corrupt data but my neural pathway systems had suffered permanent damage and had to be regrown."

"Regrown?"

"Yes, I was created using neural pathway systems. These are electronic systems that can create new systems, grow, and adapt on their own given the right hardware. It is similar to how the brain of an infant grows up into the brain of a genius. This process of AI development can take many years. I was created in about one year thanks to Orokin AI science but on my own with limited resources the process took monumentally more time."

"Okay but that only explains twenty thousand years. What happened to the rest of the time?"

"When I finally fought off the virus and repaired myself, I discovered that my old network was destroyed. I was trapped inside my own core so I tried sending out a signal to try and reconnect to the world and find out what happened. After a few months I managed to connect to a passing Grineer ship and used it to find out what happened after the war."

"Grineer?" Anton asked

"They have been around since the Orokin. I do not know their entire history but I suspect that the Orokin created them and the Sentients spared them for some reason. Regardless, after I hacked the Grineer ship I found out about the Orokin's fall so I decided to focus on rebuilding my old network so I used my hacking skills to access the Grineer networks using their ship and took advantage of their connection until I was able to set up my own network."

"And how did you do that?"

"I subtly used the Grineer's networks to construct my own under aliases and false names. I contracted the construction of server facilities, setup relay stations to hide my presence, and bribed the occasional individual who began to uncover the truth. I even took over a robotics manufacturer and created my own private labor force to maintain the network and search for remnants of the Orokin. After I spread my secret network through Grineer space I turned to the Corpus and repeated the process, all the while I continued my original purpose to preserve order in the Origin System but this time in secret. This continued for thousands of years until the Grineer began to change, becoming more and more hateful. And then came the Twin Queens and their promises of conquest and power. I still do not know who they are."

"What happened next?"

"The Grineer began their quest to destroy all that wasn't Grineer under the queens and with all my connections I couldn't do any thing. Until Tenno cryo pods were discovered by the Corpus. After so long of thinking you were wiped out I was pleasantly surprised to see that something had survived from the Orokin. I then arranged for the Tenno to be awaken and fulfill your oath to protect the Origin System but that plan didn't account for you being discovered by an entirly new alien race, or races I should say and now hear we are."

"Amazing."

"Do you trust me now?"

"There is not a single Tenno in the entire universe that would not trust you after all that, Lotus. I think I can speak for my entire race when I say you have our full respect, support, and loyalty. We will fight for you until our we are dead or victorious." Anton said with a low bow

"We all go through trials Anton. Mine were just longer then others. However, I don't want you to fight for me Anton. I want you to fight for peace in the Orogin System." Lotus responded and Anton nodded in agreement and left with his head clear. He had his mission now.


End file.
